Home Repairs
by Witch of the West
Summary: The Enterprise is left battered and broken after their last mission, causing Captain Kirk to find someone who can help fix the ship. Scotty knows someone and takes Kirk and Admiral Pike to meet them. Too bad that mechanic also happens to be a delinquent.
1. 15 Steps: Radiohead

Captain James T. Kirk was wary of the space garage that Scotty had led them to. Kirk looked over his shoulder at Admiral Christopher Pike, who gazed up at the large garage with a mixture of apprehension and… content? Kirk shook his head, clearing the thoughts from his mind as he and Pike followed the Scot engineer toward the open garage. The three Starfleet officers were dressed in civilian clothing to go by rather undetected in this seedy area of Earth. With them were two security officers, also dressed in civilian clothing. Kirk had been very amused when the security personnel gathered with them earlier that day. Kirk's good friend Cupcake was among them.

Scotty was bounding into the garage with the enthusiasm of a child as Kirk, Pike, and the security were following close behind.

"Charlie!" Scotty called out to the vast hangar. Kirk looked around and saw that the massive converted aircraft hangar could easily hold the Enterprise with room to spare. Scotty was busy taking in all the sights as he yelled out the name of his friend again. "Charlie!"

Kirk and Pike walked up to the spacecraft that was in the hangar, a bit of the exterior removed to better access the control wires and engineering of the ship. Pike raised an eyebrow at Kirk, who responded with a shrug.

"Ah! Charlie," they heard Scotty say in a charming and friendly tone. Kirk and Pike turned to see Scotty shaking hands with a young woman. This young woman was only slightly younger than Kirk, probably in her early twenties. She was wearing a pair of coveralls that were only zipped up to her waist. The arms of the coveralls were tied around her waist and she wore a black wife-beater on underneath. Her hands were almost black with oil and grease and in one hand she held onto a silver wrench. As she swept a bit of hair off of her sticky forehead she left a bit of a black streak.

"You've got a little something on your forehead," Scotty pointed out with his words and his finger as he pointed to the offending mark.

"No worries," she said. "It's not the first and most certainly will not be the last." After her remark to Scotty, Charlie seemed to notice the other four men standing in the hangar, all of whom she could not recognize.

"Oh! Sorry," Scotty said. "My apologizes. Charlie, this is Admiral Pike and Captain Kirk from Starfleet. I'm stationed on Captain Kirk's vessel, the Enterprise. Gentlemen, this is Charlie."

Both Kirk and Pike stepped forward to shake hands with Charlie, who shook their hands after a moment's hesitation. She stepped back and put her hands in her pocket. She rocked back on her heels for a second and that was when Kirk noticed her all black Converse sneakers – a vintage shoe that he loved. He smirked a little before Charlie broke the silence.

"Well, enough of this awkward, what can I do for you?" Charlie asked. Admiral Pike stepped forward.

"We are in need of some parts for one of our ships. The Enterprise, to be exact. We heard from Lieutenant Commander Scott that you were the person to talk to," Pike said. Charlie's eyebrows rose at the sound of Scotty's rank and she turned to him with a very large and teasing grin on her face.

"Lieutenant Commander, eh?" Charlie asked her old friend. Kirk delighted in watching Scotty flush pink and smile proudly. "When did you go legit?"

"A while back," Scotty answered. "You know that."

"Fair enough," Charlie responded before turning back to Admiral Pike and crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you need?" Pike pulled out an electronic data pad and handed it to Charlie. She took it and looked over the list, frowning and her brow furrowing as she read the Admiral's wish list.

"I don't understand," she said to the three officers once she was finished reading the list. "You can get all of this anywhere. Why did you come here?"

"Were you the same Charlie that was recently arrested – two nights ago, I believe it was – for reckless driving, speeding, and grand theft auto?" Kirk asked. Charlie turned to him and gave him an appraising look, allowing her eyes to roam up and down his body as she arched an eyebrow.

"Perhaps," she answered.

"Are you also the same Charlie that about twenty-four hours later was involved in a bar brawl that ended in the broken nose of one of our security officers?" Kirk asked, gesturing to Cupcake who was sporting some dark sunglasses that were sort of masking the rapidly spreading purple bruise across his nose and surrounding both eyes. Charlie looked toward Cupcake and failed to suppress a chuckle.

"Maybe," she answered, evasively even as her actions proved otherwise. "What does this have to do with the parts that you need? All of which you can get legitimately without having to deal with me or rousing any suspicion."

Pike and Kirk looked to Scotty. Scotty shifted a bit on his feet.

"We're looking for a new engineer as well," Scotty said. "Someone that is well-versed in ship mechanics as well as someone with a very large knowledge of quantum and relativistic physics. I only knew of one person who could fit that description: a young aerospace engineering delinquent."

Charlie couldn't help but smile a bit at Scotty's winning grin at her.

"That's very flattering, gentlemen, but I'm afraid that I have to decline," she answered, going over to the ship that was currently stationed in the hangar. She took the wrench out of her pocket and began to adjust certain things in her vision. The electronic data pad sat next to her on the wing of the spacecraft. "I can get you what you need and won't even charge you what I normally charge, but I'm not going to join Starfleet."

"What do you have against Starfleet?" Kirk asked. Charlie stopped working and turned around to face them.

"Excuse me for being frank, but it's filled with egotistical bastards who think that they are God's gift to the universe and whatever other universes are out there. They strut around like they own every galaxy between here and the end of infinity. If the Sugarplum Fairy over there is any example, the respect that the male officers or cadets or soldiers or what have you have towards women, is appalling. And, honestly, I'm much happier on the ground, in control of myself, not taking orders from anyone," she answered. "I'm sorry if I've offended any one of you – expect Sugarplum over there, he deserves it – but I can't take up a position with you."

"Look, Charlie," Kirk began. "Aside from all of the arrogant and egotistical bullshit that about ninety-five percent of those at Starfleet have – myself included – you would fit right in and would be a welcome breath of fresh air for the Command. We need to be put in our place every once and a while. You are one of those people that can do that. From talking to you just this much right now, I can tell that you are incredibly intelligent and well-versed in the goings on in and around a spacecraft, even one as advanced as the Enterprise. As captain of that ship, I would be honored to have you on board the crew."

"Listen, I don't know – " Charlie began. Kirk held up a hand to cut her off and she dutifully shut her mouth.

"I was like you once, breaking the law and recklessly doing what came to my fancy," Kirk said. "I joined Starfleet after Admiral Pike discussed what my future could be. However, I saw space as a bigger playground. You know you need a bigger playground."

Charlie looked at Kirk thoughtfully. Kirk looked over her face, her deep blue eyes narrowed in thought.

"If you come back in three days, I'll have everything on the list," Charlie responded before turning back to her work.

"Charlie!" Scotty said. "Come on! You have got to be bored here. Their ship is exciting!" Charlie turned back from her work and looked directly at Admiral Pike.

"You need better recruiting agents for your school," she said.

"Come again?" Pike asked.

"I was recruited for the Starfleet Academy back when I was younger. They sold the location and the great facilities. I was told that I would be among the best and the brightest minds on the planet – no, the universe. But then I asked them what would happen once I graduated from the Academy. The recruiting officer didn't have an answer aside from working with Starfleet in the various galaxies that the Federation controlled and monitored. That was it. There was no other option. I wanted options. I still want options," Charlie said. "Starfleet won't give me options."

"So you set up a garage in the middle of nowhere and worked on spacecrafts?" Kirk asked with his arms crossed over his chest.

"No," Charlie answered. "I got accepted to MIT early on a full-ride scholarship, studied abroad at Cambridge where Scotty and I met, and then came back to get my master's and finally a Ph.D. in quantum and relative physics. Then I set up this garage in the middle of nowhere to work on spacecrafts."

Kirk nodded and allowed that before asking one more question.

"And you're how old?"

"I turn twenty-three next month," Charlie answered. "I graduated from MIT in three years – including the year at Cambridge – and was eighteen at the time of my graduation. I finished my master's in a semester and then went on to assist in the physics laboratory and work on my Ph.D. that I finished in a year and a half. I've been here in this garage for almost three years."

"And are you bored yet?" Pike asked.

"I'm always bored," Charlie answered. "There's not a lot to keep me occupied and enthralled."

"There may not be a lot on Earth to keep you occupied, but space is full of endless possibilities," Kirk said. Charlie looked at him, mildly impressed. She looked at Scotty and he nodded. Charlie looked all of the men over once more, including the security detail. Then she looked at Kirk.

"Come back in three days," she said. "You'll have your parts and an answer."

"Fair enough," Kirk said. "Come on Lieutenant, let's leave this young woman to her business."

Scotty looked to Charlie with a smile and a nod before following his superior officers and the security out of the garage. Charlie watched them leave until she could no longer see the back of the young and confident captain of the Enterprise. She chuckled softly to herself before she picked up her wrench again and went back to the ship she was working on.

Kirk turned to Scotty before he and the engineer stepped into the car that they had driven to the garage.

"Do you think she'll join us?" Kirk asked his third-in-command. Scotty looked back to the garage and then back to Kirk.

"We'll have to see in three days, but I wouldn't be worried, Captain," Scotty said and then stepped into the car. Kirk smiled at the garage, put on a pair of sunglasses and stepped into the driver's seat.

***

The day after the visit to the garage in the middle of nowhere, Captain Kirk and Admiral Pike had the bridge crew and Scotty sitting in a classroom at the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. Pike and Kirk were standing in front of the room facing the officers.

"We have the parts for the ship coming soon and Scotty will install the parts before we can get her back up and running," Kirk told his crew. "I estimate that we'll be back in the air within a week."

"A week?" Kirk turned toward McCoy, who had scoffed at the captain's prediction. "I'm a doctor, not a mechanic, Jim, but even I know that it will take longer than a week for Scotty to work on the ship."

"Scotty may have some help," Kirk answered, looking to his chief engineer. "If he does have the help, we'll be back up sooner than you think."

"If you forgive the interruption, sir, but where is this help coming from?" Spock asked from his place next to Uhura.

"We have a contact from the desert that has helped us get the parts and may help with the installation of the parts," Pike answered.

"Someone who is not involved in Starfleet?" Uhura asked. Kirk nodded.

"That's correct, Lieutenant," he said. "They are a friend of Scotty's from a few years back."

A loud chime echoed through the small classroom. Kirk reached into his pocket and pulled out his communication device. He answered the call and saw a newly familiar face appear on the screen.

"Charlie, how are you?" Kirk answered the call. The young woman's face raised an eyebrow as she appraised Kirk's question.

"I'm fine. Listen, I have all of the parts you requested and they have been delivered to your hangar. It would help me out greatly if you went down there and made sure that everything made it, just so I don't have to go out and prompt someone into making an express delivery. I know that Scotty was pretty anxious to get everything ready," Charlie said over the communicator.

Kirk nodded to Admiral Pike and walked out of the room. Scotty bolted out of his seat and followed his captain. Pike looked at the other officers in the room and sighed.

"We might as well go too," Pike said. The rest of the officers stood from their seats and walked out of the room, following the admiral toward the spacecraft hangar.

Captain Kirk smiled very widely as he walked into Hangar 1. Along with a large pile of parts for the Enterprise, there was a very special delivery. Standing in front of the delivery was a young mechanic and engineer holding a communication device in one hand. At her feet was a duffel bag. To the sides of her stood five security members all guarding the rest of the hangar from her. Kirk clapped a hand on the shoulder of one of the security personnel and he moved aside. Kirk stepped through to take a look at Charlie. Scotty had caught up with Kirk and Admiral Pike was leading the rest of the officers over to them.

"I see you've done well in getting everything in early," Kirk said to Charlie. "I admire your work."

"Thank you," Charlie said, and then added: "Captain."

Kirk grinned and then looked behind him to where Admiral Pike stood smiling as he watched the young woman. The rest of Kirk's officers looked over the young woman standing before them in civilian clothing.

"You won't need to take the aptitude tests as your previous education is more than sufficient to make up for that," Admiral Pike said. "After you help Scotty out with the Enterprise, you can then join the crew in space for the continued mission of locating and discovering new planets and species. You will be set up with your own quarters on the ship as well as a rank and officer's privileges. You will be expected to attend all bridge meetings and contribute to the well-being of the ship and the ship's inhabitants. Do you think you can perform those tasks?"

"Yeah, I think I can handle that," Charlie said with a shrug. Charlie looked around the hangar and then turned back to Admiral Pike with a confused look on her face.

"Where's the ship?" she asked. Kirk chuckled, as well as some other officers that Charlie didn't recognize. Was one of them a Vulcan?

"It's in another hangar. We cleared out Hangar 7 for you and the ship." Scotty said. Charlie nodded.

"Good."

"The hangar is equipped with all of the tools you will need in order to work on the ship," Admiral Pike explained. "Should you require any personnel to help you with the repairs, we have some excellent cadets that will be willing and eager to help you."

"Just Scotty and I can make due," Charlie said. "Thank you for the offer though."

"Well, we'll get these things taken over to the hangar and your belongings will be taken to your quarters. Come with us and I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew," Admiral Pike said.

"Ah, you mean the strange people that have been judging me since they got here," Charlie said. Kirk laughed.

"You're going to fit right in."

Admiral Pike led the crew members to a small canteen usually reserved for the admirals in the academy. The crew took seats around a long table and Admiral Pike remained standing.

"Crew, this is the newest member of the Enterprise crew," Admiral Pike said. "She will be working with Lieutenant Commander Scott as an assistant engineer and mechanic. Charlie, this is the bridge crew as well as the chief medical officer and Scotty." Charlie looked around the table and saw the few faces staring back at her start to relax.

"To your left is Lieutenant Sulu, our helmsman. Next to him is Ensign Chekov, Russian wunderkind and navigator. Commander Spock is next and our resident science officer. He is also the second in command. Lieutenant Uhura is the chief communications officer. You know Lieutenant Commander Scott and Captain Kirk already. And last but not least is Dr. Leonard McCoy, our chief medical officer," Pike introduced the crew. Charlie looked around at the variety of people sitting at the table. She couldn't help but think that she had just signed up to join the most misfit crew known to any species anywhere. The thought made her want to smile.

"Can I go to my quarters to change so I can start work on the ship?" Charlie asked. "Scotty doesn't need to join me if he's needed elsewhere, but if he's free I wouldn't mind the help or the company."

"He is needed for about an hour, but after that he can help you," Admiral Pike said. "Captain Kirk will show you to your quarters. A new uniform will be provided for you and you will be fitted with a communications device which is also your locator should you get lost."

"Get lost?" Charlie asked. "I don't plan on getting lost."

"None of us plan on getting lost," Charlie heard Uhura say. "But it works well for locating you in case we need to beam you back on the ship in case of emergency."

"Good to know."

Charlie was sitting in her quarters in the dormitories at the Starfleet Academy. The quarters were small but comfortable with a large bed and enough room for her duffel bag full of belongings. She stared at her regulation uniform. It was the same as Lieutenant Uhura's uniform, a short red dress and black boots.

She heard a knock on the door and looked up when Captain Kirk stood at the open doorway. He held his hands behind his back and grinned as he took in the room.

"The quarters are small, but they are better than what the students get," Kirk told her. Charlie nodded and continued to stare at the uniform. Kirk followed her gaze to the offending red garment. "Is something the matter, Lieutenant?" Charlie's gaze shot up to him.

"Lieutenant?" she asked. Kirk nodded. "Huh. Interesting."

"And the uniform?"

"It's not quite fit for mechanical and engineering work if I'm going to be working on the ship, I'd much rather be comfortable and able to move around without wondering if some cadet jackass is trying to look up my skirt."

"Cadets aren't allowed to look up your skirt," Kirk said to himself. "Good to know. And officers? Are they exempt from this rule?"

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him.

"I would throw something at you but I'm afraid that might be against regulation," Charlie said. Kirk smiled at her.

"Throw on a pair of coveralls – I know you have some with you," he said. "Then come down to the hangar and get to work. Scotty should be ready soon. You've also got Chekov and Uhura working with you. Most of the communications and navigations areas were damaged and they want to get them back up and running to their standards."

"Fine," Charlie said. "But you could tell them that I'll get the areas working better than they were before you decided to destroy your ship."

Kirk laughed.

"I'll leave so you can change and I'll see you down at the hangar soon," he said.

"That doesn't sound like the captain I've heard about," Charlie said. Kirk just laughed and left the room.

Charlie's eyes went wide as she entered Hangar 7 and encountered the ship she would be working on for an unknown amount of time. She looked up at the damaged but still beautiful ship. After taking in her new home for a while, she looked around at the amount of tools that she would need to help fix the ship. The parts that she had ordered for them were off in a pile and getting sorted by overenthusiastic cadets.

"Hey!" she yelled over to them. The male cadets stopped and turned at the sound of the voice. "Don't touch that."

The cadets smiled and chuckled.

"And who are you to stop us?" one asked, walking away from the parts and over toward Charlie, the rest following.

"You should know better than to question the orders of an officer," a stern voice said from behind Charlie. The cadets looked over Charlie's shoulder and nodded before saluting her.

"Just get out of here," she told them. The cadets nodded and left the hangar. She turned and saw Spock standing behind her. "You didn't need to do that."

"I did," he said. "They would have never left you alone otherwise."

"Thank you, Commander," Charlie said. "Is there anything I can help you with?" Spock stood to the side of her with his hands behind his back.

"No, Lieutenant," he said. "I merely came down to observe the repairs."

"It's Charlie, and I don't need supervision," Charlie corrected.

"I'm not here to supervise, Lieutenant," Spock said. Charlie glared at the mention of her rank. "I am merely observing. I happen to find watching people working on the ship to be very soothing and comforting."

"We have something sort of in common then," she said.

"Please explain."

"You like watching people work on ships. I like working on ships," Charlie told the commander.

"Lieutenant," Charlie heard from a few feet away. She and Spock turned to see Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov dressed to work on the ship and approaching the conversing Spock and Charlie.

Kirk walked up to Charlie and threw an arm around her shoulders, guiding her to turn and look at the ship.

"Welcome to the Enterprise, Charlie," Kirk told her then grinned at her. Charlie looked up at the ship and smiled.

"Let's get to work," Charlie said. She turned to Spock and appraised him quickly. "Commander, if you stay, you might as well help out and get your hands dirty." Spock nodded and joined the rest of the crew.

"Tell us what we need to do," Uhura told her fellow female crew member. Charlie smiled at the unspoken words that passed between the two women. A camaraderie was born between them in those seven words.

"We're here to help," Charlie heard behind her and saw Lieutenant Sulu, Dr. McCoy and Admiral Pike walking toward them, dressed to work.

"We heard everyone was down here working and decided to join the party," Sulu said. Charlie smiled before turning back to the crew, all eyes on her.

"Good. Let's see. I'll forego officers' titles for now in order to speed up this process," Charlie said. "Sulu, Uhura, and Spock, you can work on the bridge, fixing the communications and navigation wiring and computers. McCoy and Pike, you join Scotty on the transportation pad and that floor. McCoy, stay within communication distance in case of any injuries. Kirk and Chekov, you're with me in the engine room. First let's go separate the parts that we got."

The crew went over to the pile of parts and Charlie began to help sort through the pile, letting each crew member know where the piece they picked up would be going on the ship. Rank was forgotten as the Lieutenant was telling the Admiral and the Captain what they would be doing in regards to their ship… their home.


	2. Chasing Pavement: Adele

Charlie was standing near the Enterprise in Hangar 7 when she heard footsteps behind her. She sighed, hoping it wasn't one of the eager engineering cadets that were threatening to drive her crazy with their incessant yammering on about her need for an assistant. She would dutifully remind them that she was someone's assistant and to have an assistant of her own would be rather redundant. They would sulk for about thirty seconds before walking out of the hangar as she stared them down. She would sigh and return back to her work.

"Lieutenant," she heard in a cheerful tone, thankful for a familiar voice that didn't belong to one of Starfleet Academy's many students. The heavy Russian accent was music to her ears after hours of students coming in and out of the hangar. Charlie turned to smile at the young Ensign.

"Hey Chekov," she said. "How are things?" Chekov stood next to her and followed her gaze up to the ship.

"Things are well," he said. "How are things down here?" Charlie sighed deeply. She had been working on the ship for almost a week now. She had been more than a little frustrated when she heard about Kirk's prediction that she would have the ship ready in under a week. Even though the command staff was more than willing to help and had been very beneficial in moving forward the progress of the repairs, Charlie still wasn't happy with the pace the project was taking.

"Things are going okay," Charlie explained. "Captain Kirk is happy with the progress as well as Scotty."

"But you are not happy with the progress?" Chekov asked, sneaking a glance at his fellow young officer. Charlie smiled and chuckled slightly. The young Russian Ensign was very perceptive when it came to her. He would always know when she was getting too tired to properly work on the ship without an immediate break. He had guessed her love of chess right off the bat and regularly challenged her to games that they would have to break from in order to keep working. She always had someone to eat with, even though Scotty regularly joined her at meals so they could discuss the progress of the ship. Chekov would be there though, listening and taking in all of the information that passed between the engineers. They had only known each other less than a week and already he could read her like a book. She never caught half of the Russian expressions he would throw out in conversations and such, but he had promised to help teach her his native language.

"I wish we could be farther along now than we are," Charlie admitted. Chekov nodded.

"I assumed as much," he said. "Otherwise, I don't think you would be here in the early hours of the morning." Charlie looked at him with her brow furrowed.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"It is almost three in the morning," Chekov said.

"Shit." Chekov laughed at the defeated tone in Charlie's voice as she uttered the expletive. Charlie sighed very heavily and dropped the towel and wrench she was holding onto the ground. The clinks of the metal wrench hitting the concrete echoed through the hangar.

"Come along," Chekov said. "We can get some food and then I'm making sure that you go to bed." Charlie nodded and she and Chekov walked out of the hangar together.

On the way to the officers' mess hall, Charlie turned to Chekov as they walked down the hallway.

"What are you doing up this late?" she asked. Chekov turned his gaze from her face to his shoes and the floor as they kept walking down the corridor. If Charlie looked closely, she would have seen a patch of pink start to spread across his left cheek. But she wasn't looking closely and therefore the momentary blush went unnoticed.

"I promised Captain Kirk that I would make sure that you weren't overworked and got your rest," Chekov admitted. "I am supposed to make sure that you sleep. Scotty told the captain that you used to work very hard on projects and go for long periods without sleep."

The two officers entered the mess hall for the Enterprise officers and looked around at the food selection that was still available to eat. After grabbing a pint of milk, a bag of chips, and a sandwich, Charlie joined Chekov in the seating area of the mess hall. Chekov hadn't grabbed any food.

"Eat up," Chekov said. "I promised I would have you in bed soon." Charlie looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Did you now?" she asked. "You promised you would have me in bed?" Chekov immediately began to sputter out an apology and looked very nervous as he tried to come up with an excuse for his words.

"Lieutenant – " Chekov began. Charlie put a hand on his and he stopped talking.

"First, call me Charlie," she said. "I've told you that already. And second, I was just kidding. It was a joke." Chekov laughed nervously and smiled.

"Charlie is not your real name, is it?" he asked after a moment. Charlie stopped chewing the bite she had taken from her sandwich for a moment. She finished chewing and swallowed quickly before answering.

"Charlie is a nickname," she explained. After not adding anything else to the conversation, she turned back to her sandwich, picking at it and tearing off pieces to chew.

"What is your name then?" Chekov asked. Charlie looked down at her sandwich for a moment, lost in silent thought. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, if I have offended you. I was just curious." Charlie didn't look up from her sandwich for a moment.

"It's Charlotte," Charlie answered. "My name is Charlotte Elizabeth West."

"Charlotte," Chekov tried out the name for himself. Charlie watched him, filled with an unknown and unfounded anticipation. After a moment he smiled. "I like it. Why don't you go by it?"

"I was always called Charlie," she explained. "My brothers and my dad called me Charlie. My mom was the only one who called me Charlotte." Charlie looked down again, diligently working to finish her sandwich, occasionally taking a sip of milk.

"It is a beautiful name though," Chekov said. Charlie smiled.

"What about you? All I know is that you are Ensign Chekov, the Enterprise's Russian wunderkind," Charlie said. "Tell me more about you." Chekov smiled brilliantly at her.

"I am Pavel Andreievich Chekov," he said proudly. Charlie couldn't help laughing at the proud posture Chekov threw himself into upon his announcement of his full name.

"Don't forget Ensign," she told him through barely contained laughter.

"Yes, of course," Chekov agreed. "However, I was not born with the officer title and shall refrain from using it in this instance."

"Okay," Charlie agreed. "I will accept that."

"Good," Chekov said as he shared a grin with Charlie. "I was born in Russia and grew up there, going to the St. Petersburg Academy. It was a school for very gifted individuals. I then went to Starfleet and became a navigational and tactical officer. I am very good with numbers."

Charlie smiled at the young man. Done with her sandwich, Charlie grabbed the bag of chips still sitting on the table and opened it. She offered some to Chekov, who politely declined any. After taking a chip for herself, Charlie left the bag in equal distance between them, a continued offer to Chekov.

"How old are you?" Charlie asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

"I'm nineteen," he answered proudly. Charlie tilted her head slightly as she looked at Chekov and then nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. "And what about you? How old are you, Charlie?"

"I am twenty three soon," Charlie answered. "Next month in fact." Chekov's young and handsome face lit up so brightly that Charlie was momentarily startled.

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "We can celebrate on the ship and then you can have your first birthday in space!" Charlie couldn't help but laugh.

"That sounds good," Charlie said, not wanting to take away the joy that was etched on the face of her young companion. "But I'm more fond of quiet birthdays. Usually ones where no one else knows that it's my birthday." Chekov dimmed slightly.

"I won't tell anyone," he said. "But you won't be mad if I come to see you and wish you a happy birthday on that day, right?"

"No, I won't be mad," Charlie said with a soft smile. She suddenly found that she was incapable of being angry with the young Russian. "Just don't tell anyone else, okay?"

"I promise," Chekov said, putting a hand over his heart and repeating his earlier proud posture. Charlie grinned. Chekov turned his head to look at the clock on the wall of the mess hall and sighed. Charlie turned her head to follow his gaze and groaned.

"Almost half three in the morning," Chekov stated. Charlie nodded. She grabbed the pint of milk and gulped down the remaining liquid content. Chekov had already picked up the sandwich wrapper and chip bag. They stood and walked toward the trash and recycling receptacles. After tossing the offending items into the containers, they left the mess hall and turned in the direction of the officers' quarters.

***

The next morning Charlie walked down the sidewalk toward Hangar 7. She idly leapt over puddles of rain that had fallen the night before. As she entered the hangar, she heard sounds of people working on the Enterprise. She looked at her watch – thankful she had remembered to put it on – and looked around for some sign of the life that was going on around the hangar. From all of the voices, she could easily pick out two very familiar ones. Both had thick accents; one was Scottish and the other was Russian.

As she walked farther into the hangar, Charlie watched as Scotty jumped down from somewhere on the ship and start walking to her.

"Ah! You're awake earlier than we expected," Scotty said as he detoured to get a cup of coffee that was sitting on a workbench. He handed her the coffee – which she took thankfully – and grinned at her. "We continued working. I didn't think you'd mind." Charlie looked up at the ship.

"No, no. I don't mind at all," she said. She took a sip of the coffee and then turned to Scotty after a bit. "Who's 'we'?"

"No cadets," Scotty clarified. "Just the command staff and McCoy. The ship's in good hands." Charlie nodded and took another sip of coffee, allowing herself to feel the warmth as the liquid streamed down her throat and to her stomach.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting rather attached to this here ship," Scotty said. "She is a beauty."

"She is," Charlie agreed. She sipped some more coffee before setting the cup on a nearby workbench. Then she turned to her old friend. "Where do you need me?" Scotty turned to her and smiled.

"I need your wonderful computer skills that you keep hidden behind all of that physics and engineering knowledge," Scotty said. Charlie looked at him, confused.

"The transportation pad went down?" she asked. "I thought we fixed that."

"We did," Scotty answered. "We need your help on the bridge." Charlie nodded and followed Scotty toward the ship. She followed him with more than a little excitement in her step. She deduced that she had been almost everywhere on the ship – save personal quarters and the bridge. While she didn't care about most of the personal quarters on the Enterprise, she desperately wanted to see the bridge.

It was without question that she eagerly took in her surroundings once she and Scotty stepped off of the elevator and onto the bridge. Scotty turned to his young assistant and smiled at the look in her eyes and her slightly open mouth as she took in the bridge of the large spacecraft.

"Go ahead," he said as he nudged her shoulder with his. "You can say it."

"Holy shit," she said as she cautiously stepped forward. She saw that they were not alone on the bridge. The confident captain sat languidly in his chair as Chekov and Sulu tried to get their stations to work again as normal.

"Boys," Charlie heard Scotty say to Chekov and Sulu. "Move away. Let her do what she needs to do." Charlie stepped forward cautiously once more and took Sulu's vacant seat. She turned to the men that stood and sat around her.

"I can't promise that I'll be able to fix this," she warned. "This isn't tightening nuts and bolts. This is reprogramming a computer. I don't know if I can quite get that done. But I promise that I will try."

"Lieutenant, have a bit more faith in yourself," Charlie heard Kirk say from behind her. "After all, we do."

"Great," Charlie muttered. "That makes four of us." She sighed and turned toward the station. She could see that the main computer system was working but some other components weren't quite up and running yet. She looked over some of the settings on the computer.

Kirk watched Charlie as she combed through the computer looking for a solution. He watched as she swept up the length of her long brown hair and took a hair tie from her wrist, twisting it around her hair making a messy bun. Kirk could see the back of the three piercings in the lobes of each ear. Something aside from the gleam of the light on the silver of the earring backs caught Kirk's attention and he turned his head to the side to look at it. It was Chekov intently watching Charlie's actions on the computer. She seemed unaware of his gaze and that made Kirk smirk to himself.

"Any improvement, Charlie?" Kirk asked his new crew member. Charlie glanced back to her captain quickly before turning back to the computer as she bit her lip lightly. Kirk saw Chekov's gaze shoot to Charlie's mouth before going back up to her eyes.

"I think I may have found something," Charlie began. "I might need to find someone with more computer knowledge than me."

"I don't know if we have someone who will be capable of that," Kirk replied. Charlie was suddenly pushing buttons fervently as her eyes flew all around the screen in front of her.

Then she suddenly stopped, just as quickly as she had been working.

"I think I got it," she said in a whisper more to herself than anyone else. Chekov, who had been watching her hands fly across the touch screen in front of her, suddenly looked at her face.

"You got it?" he asked, excitedly. Charlie looked at him.

"We need to do reboot the computer system to make sure that all the changes are taken and give the system a reset before we can fully get going," Charlie explained. She turned around to look at Captain Kirk. "It will be a long shot and we'll have to check every single other system after the reboot but I think it could solve the problem." Kirk nodded.

"Do it," he told the others. "Shut the entire system down and then start up manually."

"That should help," Charlie added. Kirk nodded again and turned his attention to talk to the computer screen.

"Computer," he said. "Shut down."

* * *

Charlie walked with her hands in her jacket pockets as she followed the rest of her fellow crew officers toward a bar near the Academy. It was a Friday night and Kirk had convinced his command staff, his favorite doctor, and his favorite engineers to join him out on the night on the town. Even Spock had agreed to come, deeming it logical to go as there would be no one for Uhura to talk to when she didn't want to discuss things with Kirk and the rest of the crew. Charlie was very suspicious about that answer from the half-Vulcan commander.

Charlie's military style jacket kept her warm as she still refused to wear the regulation uniform out to the bar and while working on the Enterprise. So far she had not yet donned the uniform for a single second. As they approached the entrance to the bar, Admiral Pike – another surprise on the trip to the bar – held the door open for the rest of the officers. Pike's gaze toward his crew drifted to the female Lieutenant engineer that had taken a sudden and vested interest in the vintage sports cars parked in the lot of the bar.

"Charlie," Pike said from the door. "Come on, Kirk said he'd get the first round and you need to get your drink order in or he's not going to pay for it." Charlie's gaze broke from the fast vehicles and she picked up her pace to make it into the bar as Pike followed her in and let the door close. Charlie and Pike walked through the bar, quickly finding the group they came with taking off their jackets and other outer garments around a large table. Charlie picked a seat on the end of the table. Kirk was at her right and Scotty at her left. Charlie sat down in the chair and found that she had a very good view of the bar. She scanned the occupants and quickly found the owners of the vintage cars parked outside. She was broken from her thoughts when a shot glass found its way in front of her. She looked up at the owner of the hand still resting on the glass and found Captain Kirk's face smiling down at her.

"Can you hold your liquor?" Kirk asked with a grin. Charlie narrowed her eyes at him and nodded as Scotty stepped around her chair and sat down next to her.

"Can she!?!" Scotty exclaimed. "She out drank all of us Scotsman while at Cambridge." Kirk and Charlie didn't tear their gazes from each other as Scotty kept talking about Charlie's earlier drinking escapades. "She could probably out drink every one of us in this table. No! In this bar!"

At that exclamation Charlie saw the group she suspected to be the car owners turn their attention toward their table. She moved her gaze from Kirk and raised an eyebrow at one of them. He smirked and got up from the table. Charlie turned back to Kirk.

"Are you in a betting mood?" she asked him. Kirk looked stunned by the question.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you in a betting mood?" Charlie repeated her question. Kirk looked at the man that was approaching their table, his eyes only for Charlie. Kirk looked back to Charlie.

"I don't know why, but I really trust you, Lieutenant," he said. "And, yes, I'm in a betting mood." Charlie nodded.

"Good," she said. "Besides, I heard you like fast cars." Charlie cut off that conversation with Kirk as she kicked his chair toward him so he would sit down. Kirk did sit down and watched as Charlie looked up at the man who had just approached her chair. Charlie was very aware of Admiral Pike watching every move from the opposite end of the table.

"There's a little rumor going around that you can out drink anyone in this bar," the man said with what he hoped was a charming grin. Charlie had to hand it to him, it was a pretty charming grin, but Charlie was used to the charming grins.

"Is that so?" Charlie asked, fingering the still full shot glass in front of her. "I'm not quite sure that that rumor is accurate."

"Should we test it?" the man asked. Charlie pretended to be in thought for a while.

"As much as I would like to, I'm here with some friends and as a Lieutenant for Starfleet, I'm sure it's going to be against protocol," Charlie said. "But if it's okay with my captain then I'm sure that we can work something out." Charlie looked pointedly to Kirk, who had been watching the conversation with an air of amusement.

"I'm sure we can work something out," Kirk said to the man. "Are you and your friends the owners of those vintage cars out front?"

"What if we are?" the man asked. Charlie put a hand on one of the man's hands that were resting on the table. The man turned immediately back to Charlie, unaware that the entirety of the command staff of the USS-Enterprise was watching.

"How do you feel about a little bet?" Charlie asked. The man smiled. "Good." Charlie took the shot that had been placed in front of her earlier and downed it quickly before turning back to the man.

About an hour later, Charlie and the man – Shawn – were sitting at either end of the table previously occupied by the Enterprise crew. The crew was behind Charlie, cheering her on. Shawn's friends were behind him, supporting him. A large pile of shot glasses littered the table and it seemed that most of the bar was getting in on the betting action. Admiral Pike bent down from where he was standing behind Charlie to whisper to her.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Certainly," Charlie answered.

"I enjoy a fast car as much as the next person," Admiral Pike began, "but I'd rather not have to send you to Sickbay to get your stomach pumped."

"We've got McCoy here," Charlie said. "And, besides, I'm only feeling a little fuzzy. We've got this in the bag."

Pike nodded and resumed standing. Two more shots were placed in front of the competitors. Charlie and Shawn stared each other down, each daring the other to take their shot first.

"Ladies first," Shawn said, slurring his words and making a rather large sweeping gesture with his hand. Charlie chuckled darkly. She picked up the shot glass and brought it to her lips. Then she paused and looked Shawn directly in the eye.

"I'm not a lady," she answered before she opened her mouth and poured the shot in. She coughed a little and brought a hand to her chest. Money was exchanging hands and whispers were going around. She held up a hand and let out a deep breath before looking at Shawn. The Enterprise crew let out a big cheer. Kirk was the loudest of all and patted Charlie on the back.

"Don't do that," she muttered to him as she swayed a little in her chair. Kirk just smiled back at her and laughed.

"Shawn," Kirk said, "I believe it's your turn." Shawn nodded and Kirk thought he looked a little green. There were no signs of him being Vulcan so Kirk knew the Enterprise crew were going to walk… well, drive… away with some new cars.

Shawn put the shot glass up to his lips and sighed deeply. He contemplated the shot like one would contemplate a gun while playing Russian roulette. He started to pour the shot into his mouth but then stopped. All eyes were on him. Charlie was rising slightly in her seat, her eyes wide open. The bar was silent.

"Fuck," Shawn muttered before putting the shot glass back on the table. "She wins." Charlie slumped back into her seat as her supporters cheered and Shawn's supporters groaned.

"Hand over the keys," Kirk said, holding his hand out to Shawn and his friends. Shawn reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys. He pulled his arm back before he put the keys in Kirk's hand.

"She has to beat me by a full shot," Shawn said. Charlie looked up at him quickly and then grabbed the table with both hands as she felt her head spin.

"What?" Kirk scoffed. "She beat you! You couldn't finish the shot." Kirk felt a hand on his arm and saw Charlie looking at him.

"Just go get another shot," she said. Kirk bent down so he was at eye-level with her and glanced at Shawn before turning back to her.

"Charlie, I don't want to have to carry your dead body out of here," Kirk said. "I'm willing to carry your still live body out of here, as that's looking very likely. However, I'm rather fond of having you on my crew. One more shot is going to kill you."

"So pessimistic," Charlie said as she chuckled a little. She patted Kirk's cheek probably slightly harder than she had intended. "Go get the shot. Captain." Kirk nodded at her and left to get one more shot.

"This is illogical," Charlie heard Spock say to Uhura behind her. "However, it is very entertaining. I seem to be conflicted."

"I just hope she beats him," Uhura replied. "It'll show the boys that we are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves."

Charlie absently nodded a little too much and then stopped when another shot glass appeared in front of her. Kirk bent down to whisper in her ear.

"Take it quickly," he advised. "It'll be better that way." Charlie over-nodded again and took the glass in her hand. There was no time for anticipation as Charlie quickly threw the shot of liquor into her mouth and swallowed. She began coughing and then stopped. She put a hand to her chest as she felt her gag reflex kick in. However, all that escaped her mouth was a small burp. And then the bar erupted in cheers again, causing Shawn and his friends to reluctantly hand over car keys. Shawn's friends helped him up and exited the bar. Kirk had let them keep one car.

Charlie cautiously stood up and braced herself with her hands on the table. She looked at Kirk in the eye as best she could.

"I get first pick of the cars," she told Kirk. "As soon as I get back from the bathroom, no matter how long that will take." Kirk nodded. Charlie looked to Uhura, who nodded and followed Charlie in the direction of the bathroom.

"She is going to have a serious hangover, Jim," McCoy said to Kirk. "That much alcohol in that small a stretch of time is too much for one person."

"Well, she's probably getting rid of most of it right now," Kirk observed. "Make sure she's taken care of tonight and in the morning." McCoy nodded.

Uhura looked away from the toilet as she held back Charlie's hair. Charlie's stomach heaved once more and then she sat back, wiping her mouth with the paper towel Uhura handed to her. Charlie dropped the used paper towel into the toilet and waved her hand over the automatic flush sensor.

"How are you feeling?" Uhura asked. Charlie looked at her.

"Better," she answered. "Still drunk, but better. Tomorrow morning is going to suck." Uhura laughed.

"Yes, it is." Charlie smiled weakly at her. "Why'd you do it?"

"Aside from getting a fast car?" Charlie asked. Uhura nodded. "I wanted to drown my disappointment after having fried the computer system on the ship. I really thought that shutting it down and rebooting the system would fix the problem."

"It made sense," Uhura supplied. "Spock even agreed with your reasoning." Charlie tilted her head as she looked at Uhura.

"You and Spock, huh?" she asked. Uhura grinned. "I still can't wrap my brain around that."

"It's all about the ears," Uhura said. Then she laughed along with Charlie. Then Charlie suddenly stopped laughing and put a hand to her stomach. Uhura stopped laughing too. Charlie shook her head and sat up straighter.

"I'm good," she said. "I'm good." Uhura nodded and helped Charlie to her feet.

"Let's get you home," Uhura said. "I think you've been tortured enough for one day." Charlie nodded in agreement and allowed Uhura to help her out of the bathroom and back into the bar.

Charlie had passed out in her new car by the time the crew made it back to the Academy. Luckily she was sitting in the front passenger seat of the newly acquired vehicle. Kirk had promised to drive her back and make sure she got to her room in one piece. Uhura had challenged him but he affirmed it so greatly that Uhura was taken aback by the sincerity of the promise.

She watched as Kirk gently picked up Charlie from the passenger seat of the car and nudged the door shut with his hip. Kirk shifted the small woman in his arms and carried her out of the car garage. Uhura and Spock followed Kirk as he carried Charlie into the officers' dormitory quarters. In the corridor that housed the Enterprise crew, Spock put an arm around Uhura and turned her away from following Kirk toward Charlie's quarters.

"Come on, love," he said to her. "He will treat her with the utmost respect and will only place her on the bed before leaving. If you wish we can watch from the door of my room." Uhura turned to Spock.

"No, you're right," Uhura said. She put a hand on his chest and reached up to kiss the Vulcan representative. Spock kissed her back and then broke away, taking her and hand leading her to his room.

Kirk was quite the gentleman when it came to Charlie, something he wasn't quite used to. He used Charlie's hand to wave over her room's sensor and the door opened. Kirk was surprised to find a very clean room. He put her down on top of the bed and moved to her feet. He unlaced and then took off her Converse sneakers, putting them by the side of the bed. Charlie was still asleep as he walked back around the bed to look at her face. He leaned down and brushed some hair from her face before kissing her forehead.

"Thanks for the cars, kid," he said. He watched Charlie shift into the pillows a bit more. There was a knock on the doorframe of the room and Kirk turned to see McCoy standing there with a cup in his hand.

"For the hangover," McCoy explained as he walked into the room and put the cup on the dresser. He dropped a note next to the cup and turned toward the door, leaving the room. Kirk allowed himself one last glance at Charlie's sleeping form before leaving the room and shutting the door.

* **

Kirk stood at the entrance to the bridge of the Enterprise at a loss for words. He checked his watch. Then he shook his wrist and checked his watch again. It still told him that it was just before nine in the morning. If it was that early, then why were his navigator, helmsman, and assistant engineer all sitting around the control board in front of his captain's chair? He saw Sulu glance back at him and smile slightly.

"Captain," Sulu said. "We weren't expecting you. Charlie and Chekov were just working on the computers."

Kirk came and sat down in the captain's chair as Charlie and Chekov were sitting next to each other at the control board. Charlie was working away at the touch screen.

"How are things?" Kirk asked Chekov. Chekov turned to Kirk and grimaced.

"Not very well, Captain," Chekov admitted. Kirk turned to Charlie.

"Charlie," he said. Charlie didn't even turn around. All she did was sigh and lower her head so it hit the touch screen with a groan. All of a sudden the computer on board the Enterprise began to make a lot of noise consisting of beeps of various pitches. Charlie sat up and watched as the computer came back to life and the images projected on the various screens around the bridge looked normal again.

Kirk grinned and clapped a hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"Good work, kid," he told her. "I'll tell the rest of the crew and then we can get back up in the air." He laughed to himself and then stood up to leave the bridge. Charlie just looked around her at the screens lit up and ready to function.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," she said. She didn't even bother glaring at Chekov and Sulu when they started laughing. In fact, she joined in.


	3. Chasing Cars: Snow Patrol

Scotty wasn't quite sure why Charlie was lying on her back on the sidewalk in the early hours of the evening, but he plopped down next to her anyhow. He laid back and put his arms behind his head, resting his head on his hands. He looked up toward the sky and watched the first of the stars of that night start to show. Then he turned his attention to Charlie.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Watching the stars appear," Charlie answered without taking her gaze off the sky. Scotty looked back and forth between the sky and Charlie, doing a very good imitation of a tennis spectator.

"Are you getting sentimental on me?" Scotty asked. Charlie laughed.

"No, just getting used to losing a perspective," Charlie said. "Who knows when I'll look at the stars from this angle again?"

"You are getting sentimental on me," Scotty said. "First you go legit and now you're turning into a proper girl. This needs to stop, Charlie."

"I am not turning into a girl," Charlie argued. "I'm merely appreciating my surroundings."

"You'll be able to appreciate it more from up there," Scotty said. "It's brilliant."

"So I've heard."

"Come on," Scotty said, sitting up and getting to his feet. Charlie looked up at him and he held out a hand to help her up. "The crew is hanging out in the mess hall. Come get some dinner." Charlie grabbed a hold of Scotty's hand and allowed him to help her to her feet.

"Come on," Scotty said, throwing an arm around her shoulders as they headed toward the mess hall. "Captain's got Chekov pretty drunk right now and that kid is hilarious while drunk."

"Oh no," Charlie said. "That poor kid."

"Yes," Scotty said. "But so entertaining for the rest of us." Charlie chuckled as she and Scotty half-jogged up the Academy steps.

"Charlie!" Scotty and Charlie heard upon their arrival in the officers' mess hall. Charlie looked around and saw that Chekov was drunkenly stumbling toward her. Kirk had his head in his arms on the table that some of the crew was occupying. Kirk's body was shaking with his laughter. Sulu was outright laughing while McCoy sat there with an amused smile as he took everything in. Scotty laughed as Chekov came up to Charlie and wrapped his arms around her in a large hug. Charlie staggered a little under the pressure of the hug but returned it awkwardly.

"Hi there, Chekov," she said. Suddenly she was being held at arms' length by Chekov as he grabbed her by the upper arms and held her away from him to better look at her face.

"You should join us," he told her. Charlie smiled and nodded.

"I was planning on it," she told him. Chekov grinned widely and then stumbled back toward the table with Scotty and Charlie following. Scotty was doubled over with laughter as he walked to the table. Charlie elbowed him in the ribs and he straightened up. She stood by the table and the others waited for her to sit.

"I'm going to grab some food," she told them. "Does anyone want anything?" She got answers in the negative and went off to find some food. Scotty sat down next to Chekov and patted him on the back.

"How are we doing young Russian?" he asked the young navigator. Chekov turned to him and smiled.

"Just fine," he said. Kirk couldn't help but laugh.

"Where did you get this vodka?" Kirk asked, picking up the half full bottle of vodka with Russian writing on it.

"My mother sent it," Chekov answered. All of the other crew members looked at him in surprise.

"Your mother sent you a bottle of vodka?" Kirk asked. "Is she willing to adopt me?"

"No," Chekov said. "And she didn't just send any bottle of vodka, she sent the best vodka in the entirety of Russia."

"Good for her," Sulu said, grabbing the bottle from Kirk and taking a swig. Charlie walked back toward the table at that point with a plate of lasagna. She sat down next to Sulu and began eating.

"Who are we praising?" she asked after she took a bite of her food.

"Chekov's mother," Kirk explained. "Not only did she give birth to this smart little bastard, but she also had the kind decency to send him this bottle of vodka all the way from Russia."

"Aren't we supposed to be being productive since we're leaving soon?" Charlie asked. Kirk laughed.

"Nah," he said. "When we leave we can be productive." Charlie looked around.

"Where are Spock and Uhura?" Charlie asked.

"Off being reproductive," Chekov said. There was a silence as the crew members looked at him. Then they burst into laughter. Kirk was banging his fist on the table as the crew still laughed at Chekov's answer.

"At least someone's being productive then," Charlie muttered as she dug into her dinner. She suddenly smacked Kirk's hand with the back of her fork when she saw him reaching for a bite of her lasagna. He dropped his fork and rubbed the back of his hand.

"Ow," he said.

"Get your own," she said. "I even offered to get you some." Kirk just grinned arrogantly.

"I'm the captain," he said. "I can do whatever I want." Chekov suddenly giggled. Kirk looked to him and laughed. "What?"

"I thought you said 'I can do whoever I want,'" Chekov said. "And then I realized that that's not true." Chekov burst into giggles again. Kirk laughed.

"Is he high?" Sulu asked with his hands wrapped around the vodka bottle. Charlie shook her head.

"He's a giggly drunk," Charlie said as she finished her lasagna. She put the fork on the plate and pushed it away from her. She grabbed the vodka bottle from Sulu and took a swig. "That is good."

"Don't hog it all to yourself," Kirk said, taking the bottle from her with a wink. "We know how you like to drink."

"That's right," Charlie said. "You do. But then, you wouldn't have those pretty new cars in the garage if I didn't like to drink." Kirk nodded, allowing that. "Now, give me the vodka."

Charlie snatched the bottle back from Kirk as McCoy stood up. Everyone looked to him and he looked back.

"I'm going to bed," McCoy said. Noises of protest broke out around him. Charlie took a swig from the bottle.

"What do you mean, 'I'm going to bed,'" Scotty asked. "You can't go to bed now. It's barely past eight in the evening. We're just getting started."

"He's right, Bones," Kirk said. "As your captain, I am ordering you to stay and enjoy the company of these fine crew members." After that, Kirk grabbed the bottle from Charlie – eliciting a "Hey!" in protest – and took a swig. Then he offered the bottle to McCoy, who took the bottle and sat back down next to Charlie. "Good man."

"This better be worth it," McCoy said. "There are no cars involved this time."

"No cars but the pleasure of entertaining company," Kirk said to his good friend. "Well, at least until Chekov passes out from all of the vodka."

"I thought Russians could hold their liquor," Charlie mentioned. Chekov leaned across the table to her and blinked several times before speaking.

"We can hold our liquor," he said. Charlie looked to her other crew members while confused, barely able to make out what he was saying through his alcohol-thickened accent.

"Is that right?" Charlie asked. "Barely half of the bottle is gone and you're three sheets to the wind."

"And?" Chekov asked. Charlie grabbed the bottle from McCoy and held it so he could see it.

"You can't hold your liquor," she said. Chekov snatched the bottle from her and held it carefully.

"I'm holding my liquor just fine."

Charlie snorted and the rest of the crew drowned in laughter.

"See, Bones," Kirk said. "Very entertaining." McCoy nodded in his laughter.

A few hours later found Chekov passed out on the table, the vodka bottle almost empty and the mess hall empty save Charlie and Kirk. The two left were sitting across the table from one another at the end of the table with Chekov passed out a few seats away. Charlie had the bottle and took a swig before wiping the back of her mouth with the hand that held the bottle. Then she pointed a finger at Kirk with the same hand.

"You are something, Captain," she told him, slurring slightly. "You are not normal for a captain."

"What do you mean?" Kirk asked. He leaned forward with his chin on his hands. Charlie put the bottle on the table and rested her chin on it.

"You are different," Charlie started. "You are laid-back with your crew. You drink regularly with your crew. You are relaxed about rules and reckless. You trusted me right from the get-go and you had complete faith in me regardless of my checkered past. Granted, you had your own transgressions to get through, but mine are a lot worse and a lot more frequent."

"Do you want me to stalk around giving orders?" Kirk asked. "I thought you didn't like taking orders."

"And, yet," Charlie said, "here I am." Kirk pointed at her and then took the bottle from her. He took a swig and put the bottle back down.

"Your eyes are really blue," Kirk said abruptly. Charlie sat up a bit straighter.

"So are yours," she answered. Kirk leaned in to get a better look at her eyes. He moved his head from side to side as her eyes followed him.

"They really are blue," he said. Charlie nodded. Kirk kissed her on the forehead and leaned back. "You're a good kid, you know that?"

"I'm not a kid," Charlie defended. "I'm barely younger than you are." Kirk nodded.

"True," he said. "But your brothers are about my age." Charlie's eyes widened. "As Captain, I have access to your records. I know you have two older brothers and that your birth name is Charlotte. I was curious so I looked you up."

"Great," Charlie said. "None of what you found needs to be repeated."

Kirk shrugged. "Of course. Although you do get a birthday party soon in return for my silence."

"Fine," Charlie answered. They heard a groan and turned in the direction of the waking Chekov. Charlie sighed and stood up. Kirk watched as she sat next to Chekov and began to softly wake him up. Chekov was very sleepy as he woke, but still managed a large smile when he saw Charlie sitting there.

"Hey, Pavel," Charlie said to him. "Come on. If you get up, I'll help you get to bed." Chekov nodded sleepily and stood up while bumping into several chairs and the table. He put an arm around Charlie's shoulders as she supported him while he walked. Chekov turned his face to look at Charlie.

"Will you stay with me and take care of me?" he asked. Charlie laughed a little and looked at Kirk briefly.

"If you're lucky," she answered. "Let's get you to your room." Charlie and Chekov passed Kirk on their way out of the kitchen. Chekov stopped and turned, bringing Charlie with him as he looked back at Kirk.

"Good night, Captain!" Chekov exclaimed. Kirk laughed.

"Good night, Chekov," Kirk said. "Night, Charlie."

"Night, Captain," Charlie responded as she guided Chekov to the door. "Come on, Chekov. Let's go to bed."

"Does that mean you're going to stay?" Kirk heard Chekov ask as they went out the door.

"You are one lucky Russian," Charlie responded. Chekov scoffed.

"All Russians are lucky," he said. Kirk laughed at that. He took one more swig of the vodka and looked down at the bottle. He looked to the door one more time.

The next morning Kirk visited the officers' mess hall one more time. He was in search of breakfast and something to cure that growing migraine threatening to ruin the day. He loaded up a plate with all of his favorite breakfast foods and grabbed a large glass of milk and another glass of orange juice. He went into the eating area and saw that Charlie and Uhura were the only other ones in the room. He sighed and walked over to them, sitting down next to Uhura.

"Good morning, ladies," he said to them cheerfully. Uhura responded with a cordial greeting.

"Morning, Captain," Charlie responded. "How's the head?" Kirk grimaced and shook his head.

"Not feeling so good," he said. "I'm hoping that will clear by the end of the morning. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Uhura nodded and stood.

"I need to go get ready," she said. "See you later, Charlie." Charlie nodded and Kirk watched Uhura leave. He moved over to take her now vacant seat and sat directly across from Charlie.

"How's Chekov?" Kirk asked. Charlie looked up from her breakfast before answering.

"Last I know he was still sleeping," she answered. "I left about half an hour ago and didn't bother to wake him."

Kirk nodded.

"That was a good thing you did for him," Kirk said. "Staying with him and taking care of him, I mean. You're a good friend."

"So are you," Charlie said. Kirk looked at her. "You did the same for me."

"I thought you were dead to the world," he said. Charlie laughed a little.

"I was," she admitted. "Uhura told me." Kirk nodded in understanding and then turned back to his breakfast.

"He didn't give you any problems, did he?" Kirk asked.

"No. He just wanted the company as he slept," Charlie answered. "I became a human teddy bear of sorts. It was no problem though." Kirk chuckled a bit. Charlie stood with her empty plate and Kirk only just realized that she was done with her breakfast. "I'd do the same for you, Captain."

With that Charlie walked away as Kirk watched her. She deposited her plate in the designated station and walked out of the door without a backward glance at him. Kirk slumped in his seat and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

***

Charlie was pulling her hair back into a messy bun in her room when her communicator went off. She looked at the device to see who was contacting her. She looked back at the device with a confused look on her face. She answered it anyway.

"Yes, Commander?" she asked upon seeing Spock's face materialize on the device.

"We will be needing you soon," Spock said. "I've been set with the task of reminding the crew to be in Hangar 7 soon."

"I know," Charlie said. "Thanks, Spock. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, actually," Spock admitted. "When we leave, I wish to discuss a few things in private with you in regards to Lieutenant Uhura."

"Sure," Charlie said.

"Good," Spock said. "Finish packing and be down in the hangar soon." Charlie nodded and Spock's face disappeared from the communicator as it went idle.

"That was weird," Charlie said to herself as she threw a few things into her bag before grabbing it and walking out of her quarters.

Charlie arrived in the hangar to see Scotty and Sulu standing in front of the ship, chatting about warp speed. She shook her head when she realized that their idle chatter was something that still involved work. She walked past them and onto the ship. She had been shown her quarters on the ship when she had first arrived. She walked the familiar path down the corridor out of the elevator and saw that the door to the quarters next to hers was open. She glanced in when she passed and saw Chekov lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. She just walked past and opened the door to her room. It was an exact replica of the quarters she had back at the Academy. She threw her bag on the bed and got to unpacking. Multiple pairs of coveralls – just like the ones she was currently wearing – were put into the dresser drawers. She had also thought to bring some civilian clothes mostly consisting of jeans and t-shirts for when she got tired of her coveralls. She also pulled out the offending red dress uniform and black boots. She admitted that she enjoyed the boots, but the dress was what bothered her. Perhaps she'd find some occasion to wear it.

Twenty minutes later Charlie found herself in the command staff mess hall, sitting across the table from Commander Spock. Charlie had a mug of coffee she was holding in her hands. Spock had his hands folded on the table. Charlie was admiring the commander's perfect posture when he spoke.

"Lieutenant, you are of the female gender," he observed. Charlie nodded.

"So I've been told," she answered, taking a sip of coffee. "What's up, Spock?"

"I think there may be a problem with Lieutenant Uhura," Spock said, allowing a bit of worry to etch onto his usually emotionless face.

"What kind of problem?" Charlie asked.

"About once a month she gets a little short-tempered with me and discusses not wanting to participate in intercourse and other such activities," Spock started. Charlie held up a hand to stop him momentarily.

"Commander, I really don't need to hear about your sex life," she said. "That's just awkward. What's the problem?"

"She hasn't been getting short-tempered lately," Spock said. "It has been a couple of months now."

"Anything else?" Charlie asked. She seemed to be getting the idea but didn't want to excite or disappoint the commander. She wasn't quite sure what his reaction would be.

"She seems to be sick in the morning but it usually dissipates once the afternoon rolls along," Spock said.

"I see," Charlie said, very confident in her analysis of the situation. "Are you sure you shouldn't be talking to her about this?"

"I thought she may have discussed this issue with you," Spock admitted.

"I'm sure you have ideas about what it could be, right?" Charlie asked. "What do you think is going on?"

"I am not entirely sure."

"Well, Spock," Charlie said, seriously wondering if she was about to give a birds and the bees talk to her superior officer. "I know you're a smart guy, but I'm pretty sure that you just want someone to say what you think is going on. But you're scared to talk to Uhura about it. I can understand that. Here's what you need to do. Take her to go see Dr. McCoy and ask McCoy to administer a pregnancy test. That's really all you need to do."

Spock sat back in his chair, a myriad of emotions playing out on his usual blank face. After seeing that, Charlie suddenly understood Uhura's admiration and attraction for the commander. Charlie smiled to herself at the possibility of a very small crew member making its way onto the ship in a matter of months. Charlie chuckled to herself as she stood up and patted one of Spock's hands.

"You'll be fine, Spock," she said. "It's the scariest thing in the world, but you'll be fine. Besides, think of all the available babysitters you've got on board."

With that Charlie smiled and started to leave the mess hall. Before she got to the door she heard Spock speak again.

"Not a word to anyone, Charlie," she heard him say. She turned back, careful not to spill any of the coffee in her mug.

"I wouldn't dream of it," she assured. And then she left.

Charlie was still smiling to herself when she passed Kirk on her way to hers and Scotty's station down in the engine and transportation bay. Kirk looked quizzically at her and put an hand on her arm to stop her.

"What are you so joyful about?" he asked. Charlie looked off in the distance and took another sip of coffee.

"Nothing," she answered. Kirk scoffed.

"I've seen you walking around here. You're never this cheery," Kirk explained.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over it, Captain," Charlie said, patting him on the shoulder. "It's nothing." Kirk nodded and Charlie continued on her path.

"Come up to the bridge when you have a chance!" Kirk called after her. Without turning, Charlie gave her response.

"Will do, Captain."

Charlie entered the engineering crew room and downed the rest of her coffee before placing the mug in the sink. She heard footsteps enter the room and turned to see Scotty coming in.

"Charlie," he said. "We've got some work to do on the warp cores to see if we can get her to go faster."

"What's the current warp speed?" Charlie asked, leaning back against the sink with her arms crossed over her chest.

"It's about a four point two," Scotty answered. "Think we can get her up to five by the time we head back home?"

"Is that a challenge?" Charlie asked. Scotty smirked.

"It's a challenge from the captain," he answered. Charlie smiled.

"Good," she said. "Speaking of the captain, I'm supposed to go up to the bridge when I get a moment."

"Go ahead and go up now," Scotty said. "We don't have much going on as we just got into space. Go enjoy the view."

Charlie smiled at Scotty and made her way out of the engineering crew room and up to the bridge of the Enterprise. She twirled her wrench in her hand as she waited for the elevator to get to the proper level. She stepped out onto the bridge and watched as Kirk turned his head in her direction from where he was consulting with Sulu.

"Lieutenant," Kirk greeted. "Come over here." Charlie stepped up to where Kirk was standing and looked around as he guided her toward the front of the ship. Charlie stumbled a bit when she saw the vast universe stretched out in front of her.

"Wow," she said. She put a hand on Chekov's shoulder to steady herself as she gazed in awe at the stars surrounding every surface of her line of vision. Kirk noticed that Chekov's left hand automatically sought out Charlie's hand that rested on his left shoulder. Kirk watched his two youngest officers share a look. He interpreted the look on Charlie's face as telling Chekov that he had been right about something. The look was brief before Charlie turned her gaze back to her home for the next five years.

***

"Your birthday is coming up," Kirk could hear Chekov tell Charlie from across the officers' mess hall aboard the Enterprise. Kirk was sitting with McCoy and Spock as they ate their dinner. Charlie and Chekov were sitting by themselves, across from each other at a small table. Their conversation gave a feeling of a closed off nature. No one else dared to sit with them and break up the mild serenity in the mess hall surrounding that table. Kirk glanced up at them for a brief moment before turning back to McCoy and Spock.

"I know," Charlie said. "Kirk said that we have to have a party."

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know," Chekov said, pausing lifting his sandwich to his mouth. "How does the captain know?"

"He's the captain," Charlie said. "He has access to such information. In return for his silence about a few matters, I am required to attend a birthday celebration on the ship soon."

"I think you're secretly enjoying it," Chekov said with a slight grin. Charlie scoffed.

"I think you're wrong," she said to the Russian.

"I think you're hiding something." Charlie smiled a bit to herself.

"We're all hiding something," Charlie said. "Are you relieved after dinner?"

"Aye," Chekov answered. "Are you?"

"Yeah. Should we continue our game?" Charlie asked. Chekov nodded vigorously and grinned widely.

"Yes," he answered. "We should. I'm finding that beating you in chess is oddly satisfying."

"Some of us can't be Russian whiz kids," Charlie argued. "The mere fact that I last more than five minutes against you is a miracle in itself. You crazy mathematician."

"I'm not crazy," Chekov laughed. "Russians aren't crazy." Charlie laughed loudly, causing the captain, commander, and doctor to glance over from their table, causing a break in their conversation. Once Spock had continued his thoughts on intergalactic space wars, Charlie and Chekov resumed giggling quietly.

"Should we just play in here?" Charlie asked. She was still picking at a wonderful Italian dish that she couldn't name. Chekov had finished his dinner and was just waiting for her.

"Aye," Chekov answered. "I'll go get the set." He stood and took his trash with him as Charlie nodded and turned back to her dinner.

"Charlie," she heard McCoy address her. She turned her head toward him and raised her eyebrows. "I'm going to send Uhura in here soon so the two of you can talk. She said something about needing to talk to a female friend and such. Something about a male doctor not understanding."

"That's fine," Charlie said.

"Do you want her to come before or after the Russian beats you in chess?" McCoy asked. Charlie saw Kirk smiling to himself as he took a bite of the food he was eating.

"During is fine," she said. "Since you're so confident in my losing, an extra distraction won't be bothersome."

"Right," McCoy said. "I'll send her down soon." Charlie nodded as she turned back to her food and saw Chekov coming back to the table with his chess set in hand. He was panting slightly and Charlie moved her plate to make room for the board and pieces. They began to set up the board, putting all of the pieces where they naturally belonged.

"No help from Mr. Spock this time," Chekov told Charlie. Charlie scoffed and heard some laughter from the next table.

"It is not my fault that he was passing by and happened to feel the need to help out what would have to have been the worst massacre in the history of chess," Charlie defended.

"It was merely logical to help out the weaker player," Spock said from his table. Charlie and Chekov smiled at each other before Charlie turned to Spock.

"Thanks, Commander," Charlie said. "I'll even ignore the slight against my usually outstanding chess playing skills."

"Very good," Spock said. Charlie laughed a little and turned back to the game. Chekov made a gesture with his hand to tell Charlie that her move was first. As Charlie was contemplating her first move, the occupiers of the table next to them stood and picked up their plates. Spock and McCoy passed the table without a word. Kirk paused ever so briefly.

"Good luck," he said to Charlie and then he was on his way out of the mess hall, catching up with Spock and McCoy, who were waiting for him at the door. Charlie watched him leave and then turned back to the game, simply moving a pawn two squares forward.


	4. Ballerina: Leona Naess

Blood. That was all that Charlie could see. Lots and lots of blood surrounded her. She looked down and could see that her hands were stained red from the blood. As she looked around her she could see everyone running around in a panic, frantically trying to patch up the holes and gashes in the ship's exterior and vital mechanical works. She was frozen. She couldn't move. The sense of calm under pressure that she thought she had possessed seemed to have been drained from her completely. Surely she could find the courage to move.

Then she must have because she was suddenly on the way to the Sickbay. The consuming thought to get to Sickbay and see who was being treated for life-threatening injuries overwhelmed her. That was all that she could do. She was running through the ship, pushing people out of the way. She did find that most of the cadets, ensigns, and yeomen would get out of her way as she ran through the ship's corridors.

She made it to Sickbay and found the numerous doctors and nurses running around. After she slowed, she suddenly felt as if she went into slow motion. She walked through the medical ward, ignoring the cries and the orders from various doctors and nurses. She walked until she made it to the last bed in the ward. Dr. McCoy was busy working on a blood-stained body of a young man. Charlie walked around to see the face of the man with tears welling up in her eyes. She put her hands to her mouth upon seeing the bruised and battered face of the young Russian. She couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks and onto her hands that still covered her mouth.

"Lieutenant!" she heard from nearby. She looked to see McCoy looking at her, momentarily pausing in his work on Chekov. "Don't just stand there! Help or get out of the way!" McCoy looked at her a little differently and then scanned the ward quickly.

"You!" he yelled toward an unsuspecting medical cadet. The cadet came over quickly. "Fix her arm and get her out of here!" The cadet stepped up to Charlie and went to take her away. Charlie struggled and for the first time felt the pain in her left arm.

"No!" she protested. "I want to be here! What happened? Is he going to be alright?" McCoy looked up at her again.

"Lieutenant," he said. "If you do not leave now, I will find something to subdue you with and then I'll have the cadet drag your body to your quarters and lock you in there! Get out of here!"

Charlie gave the doctor a hard look before turning to leave the end of the ward with the cadet. Upon hearing the flat line of the heart monitor attached to Chekov, she immediately turned around to watch as McCoy continued to try and revive the Russian.

"No!" Charlie yelled as she sat up in her bed. She looked around and saw that she was not in Sickbay. She was in her quarters. The lights were out and she was dressed in her pajamas. She held her hands out in front of her and saw that there was no blood to be found. She heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she said automatically as the door opened and the lights came on dimly. She saw Chekov walk into the room and over to her and sit next to her on the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I heard you yelling." Charlie didn't say anything. She just looked at him. After a moment she pulled him into a tight hug. He returned the hug after a moment and patted her back softly. "Charlie? What's wrong?"

Charlie sat back and looked at him.

"Just a bad dream," she said. "A nightmare. That's all." Chekov pulled her back to him and held onto her tightly.

"What happened?" he asked. Charlie shook her head as she buried it in Chekov's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer. However, Chekov pulled back and looked her in the eye. "Sometimes talking about it will help."

Charlie's brow furrowed a little, confused as to why he might have some inside knowledge about nightmares. Another conversation for another day.

"Okay," she said quietly. Chekov shifted so he was lying on top of the covers of the bed. He brought Charlie to lie next to him on her side, her head resting on his chest.

"My mother used to do this when I had nightmares," Chekov said. "What happened?" Charlie took a deep breath and found the comfort of Chekov's arm around her soothing enough to allow her memories of the dream to come rushing forth. After she was done talking, she looked up at Chekov to see his reaction. She was surprised to see him smiling slightly.

"That's silly," he said. Charlie sat up a bit then mock-glared at him.

"Don't tell me that Russians can't die," she told him. Chekov chuckled deeply.

"Well, if it's true," he said. Charlie smacked him on the chest lightly eliciting a "Hey." She put her head back on his chest, closer to his neck so he could rest his chin on the top of her head.

When Chekov woke in the morning he found that he was lying on his side facing Charlie's back and he had an arm thrown over her. She seemed to be very sound asleep when he propped himself up on his elbow. He could see that her hair was slightly in her face and her mouth was slightly open. He looked past her and saw the clock on her nightstand read seven in the morning. He would have to be up in an hour anyway. He sighed silently and moved to get off of the bed, grateful that he was on top of the covers and would not disturb Charlie.

Chekov opened the door to Charlie's room and stepped out into the hallway and turned to go to his room next door. He looked up from the floor as he was absently scratching his stomach. When he looked up he felt his blood go cold. He was looking straight into the face of the captain standing about five feet away from him. Kirk had a steaming mug in one hand and a data pad in the other.

"Captain," Chekov stammered after hearing the door to Charlie's room close.

"She is your superior officer, Ensign," Kirk said very slowly and deliberately. Chekov noticed that Kirk strained to get out the words and was very careful about his pronunciation and diction.

"I know that, sir," Chekov said. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened?" Kirk asked accusingly. "You just left her room still in your pajamas and I sincerely doubt she is awake at this hour as you were very careful about being quiet while leaving."

"Nothing happened, Captain," Chekov said with his eyes wide in fear. "I promise you that. Nothing happened."

"Why were you in there then?" Kirk asked. Chekov shifted on his feet.

"She had a nightmare last night, Captain," Chekov explained. "I heard her yell and went in to make sure she was okay. She asked me to stay in case she had the nightmare again."

"A nightmare?" Kirk asked. "Did she say what it was about?"

"She did, sir," Chekov answered. "And I promised to keep it to myself." Kirk nodded as the young Russian had guessed his next question.

"Go get ready for the day," Kirk said. "I'll see you on the bridge in two hours." Chekov nodded and rushed into his room as Kirk continued down to the end of the hall to his quarters.

***

Charlie raised her eyebrows when Uhura plopped her lunch tray down in front of the young engineer. She paused in her eating when Uhura threw herself into the chair directly across from Charlie. Charlie had been enjoying a relatively quiet if lonely lunch by herself in the officers' mess hall.

"Hi," Charlie said cautiously to Uhura. "Anything wrong?" Uhura glared up at Charlie briefly before stabbing at her food. She threw her fork down, causing Charlie to jump slightly.

"What is Kirk's problem?" Uhura asked. Charlie looked around the mess hall and was glad that it was empty except for the two female officers.

"I don't know," Charlie said. "What's going on? Scotty and I haven't had much to do with him today."

"He's been moody and snappy all morning," Uhura said. "And he's been excessively rude to Chekov, and Chekov's not doing anything about it!" Charlie's brow furrowed.

"Where is everyone?" Charlie asked. Uhura sighed and picked up her fork again.

"Kirk sent me down to get some food early because I told him to leave Chekov be," Uhura explained. "What are you doing here now?"

"Scotty told me to grab some food early so I can keep working on the warp speed when he's getting lunch," Charlie explained. "How's Spock junior?"

"Good," Uhura said with a touch of a smile on her face. "It's too bad we don't know the sex of the baby yet."

"I bet it's a boy," Charlie said. "It's going to be a beautiful baby either way. Have you thought of any names yet?"

"Not really," Uhura said. "I'm barely three months along."

"You're going to really start showing soon," Charlie mentioned. "Are you going to tell Kirk soon? What's protocol for that?"

"I'll tell him after I see McCoy again next week," Uhura said. "I have no idea what protocol is and I doubt Kirk even cares what protocol is. He'll do whatever he wants."

"I can't wait for the little kid to get here," Charlie said. "It's going to bring about some more entertainment on the ship."

"You're going to be my go-to babysitter right?" Uhura asked. Charlie grinned.

"Of course," Charlie replied. "I'm going to make sure that you actually get some sleep. I don't need sleep."

"I appreciate it," Uhura said.

"No problem," Charlie said. "I was the youngest and therefore never got to do any babysitting. I was usually the one being babysat."

"Thanks again, Charlie."

"You know," Charlie started. "I think I may have a theory about Kirk's behavior today. You are being alarmingly mellow in terms of pregnancy mood swings. Perhaps we need McCoy to check Kirk's hormone levels? Could we be expecting a Kirk junior in the future as well?"

Uhura laughed. "Please tell him that today. If you get him down to see McCoy about his hormone levels, I will make sure that your birthday party only includes a small amount of command staff officers. I happen to know that Chekov has about ten bottles of that vodka his mom sent him."

"Done."

***

Charlie stared at the chessboard and sighed. She glanced all around the board the two remaining white pieces, a king and a pawn. She glanced up at her challenger: a young Russian with a smug smile on his face. She narrowed her eyes and looked back at the board.

"You're a horrible human being," she said as she flicked her king to send it toppling to the board. "You win."

"Excellent," Chekov said. He started picking up the black pieces and putting them in the starting positions at his side of the board. "One more?"

"Sure," Charlie said after she ticked a mark on a tally sheet under the column labeled "Pavel." She put the pencil down on the notepad and started picking up her white pieces and arranging them correctly on the board. "It's not like we've got much else to do."

"Nope," Chekov agreed. Charlie looked up at him as she recklessly moved a random pawn forward two spaces.

"Why was Kirk rude to you yesterday?" Charlie asked as Chekov contemplated the chess pieces.

"What do you mean?" he asked carefully not looking at her.

"Uhura said that he was being really mean to you yesterday and that he was really moody," Charlie explained.

"I'm sure it was nothing," Chekov said.

"Still," Charlie said. "Even if it was nothing, he has no right to be rude to you. I don't care if he is the captain."

"How is work down with the engines?" Chekov asked, sounding very eager to change topic.

"Good," Charlie said. "Scotty thinks we might reach warp speed four point three by the end of the month."

"Impressive," Chekov said, looking up from where he was moving his rook. Charlie looked up when she heard footsteps entering the mess hall. She saw Sulu give a wave before he went off to find some food.

"What's Sulu doing up?" Charlie asked Chekov as she scanned the board. "Isn't he usually in bed by now?"

"I don't know," Chekov responded. "It's almost midnight, so it's not too late." Charlie shrugged and moved her bishop.

"Hey guys," Sulu said as he sat down next to Charlie with a bowl of cereal.

"Hey Sulu," Charlie said.

"Who's winning?" Sulu asked before picking up the notepad with the tally marks on it and catching a smug grin sent his way by Chekov. "Never mind then."

"The Russians will always win," Chekov said proudly. Charlie laughed. Sulu raised an eyebrow at Chekov.

"I believe history has proven otherwise and there are several competitions that you and I could have where I would win," Charlie said.

"Quite possibly," Chekov said. "But I would still beat you in chess every time." Sulu consulted the tally sheet again.

"She's won twice," he said. Charlie smiled. Chekov scoffed and dismissed the fact with a wave of his hand.

"One was because Mr. Spock helped her," he replied.

"And the other?" Sulu asked.

"The other was that night that we got really drunk in the mess hall back at the Academy," Chekov explained. "That doesn't count. I was probably telling her how to beat me as we were playing."

"You were," Charlie admitted as she held her knight poised above the board.

"See," Chekov pointed out to Sulu. "Cheater. She's cheated to get those two wins. You can never beat me unaided."

Charlie just smiled and shook her head at the Russian.

"We used to play strip chess at the Academy," Sulu said. Charlie and Chekov looked at him. "Like strip poker only you would play it with a really good friend." Sulu stood up and clapped Charlie on the shoulder as he grabbed his bowl and left the mess hall. Chekov looked to Charlie with an eyebrow raised.

"No," she said immediately. Chekov tilted his head and his eyes got a bit wider. "Don't look at me like that. Those puppy dog eyes are not going to work on me this time. We can have a chess drinking game, but no strip chess for you."

"Fine, fine," Chekov said. "Do you want me to go get the vodka?" Charlie laughed.

"Maybe next game," Charlie said. Chekov stood up at that moment and Charlie looked at him in confusion. "Where are you going?"

"To get the vodka," Chekov said while gesturing to the door. "This game is only going to last about five minutes." Charlie laughed and grabbed Chekov's sleeve, pulling him back to the table. However, he only turned and smiled before gently prying her hand off of her sleeve. He winked at her on his way out of the mess hall. Charlie stared at the chessboard contemplating her next move.

When she looked up next she saw Chekov coming back into the mess hall with four bottles of vodka in his hands and he was not alone. Behind him were the remaining members of the command staff along with Scotty. McCoy was carrying a birthday cake. Chekov put the bottles of vodka on the table near the chessboard then moved the board to a different table. McCoy put the cake on the table and everyone sat down around Charlie. Kirk started to count to the crew but Charlie held up a hand.

"If you sing, I will kill you," she threatened. The crew laughed. Charlie chuckled as Sulu, Chekov, and Kirk started taking shot glasses out of their pockets.

"We've got seven glasses because Uhura is being difficult and doesn't want to drink because she's sick," Kirk explained. Spock got up from the table.

"I'll go grab some plates and silverware," he said. Chekov began pouring the shots of vodka as Spock came back with a stack of plates, a pile of forks and a large knife. He put the stack on the table as he sat back down next to Uhura. Scotty immediately grabbed the knife and pulled the cake toward him.

"I'm cutting the cake!" he announced. "I'll just cut it into eight pieces." Everyone laughed but didn't argue. They took up their shot glasses and Chekov cleared his throat.

"We are here to celebrate the birthday of one of our elite crew members," he toasted. "We will be having a traditional Russian birthday party, except for the cake when we usually have pie. Someone," and at this point, Chekov looked pointedly at Scotty, "doesn't like pie and loves chocolate cake. Therefore we have cake. At a Russian birthday, we must have a toast for every shot and the first three are a toast to the birthday person, which I am doing now, a toast to the hostess – that would be Lieutenant Uhura, and the third is a toast to a woman's love or love in general. After that anything goes. So now, Charlie, you are twenty three years old today. You have been with Starfleet for about a month but it feels like longer. I know we've all enjoyed your company here on this ship. Here's to a long and prosperous life! Happy birthday, Charlie!"

"Happy birthday, Charlie!" the crew repeated. Everyone raised their glasses to touch them and then took the shots.

"Now whoever makes the next toast has to pour the shots," Chekov said. "The toaster pours the shots. And you must not put the glass back on the table until it is empty."

"You Russians are strict about your drinking rules," Kirk said to Chekov with a grin. Chekov smiled back.

"We also have to finish any bottle that we open," Chekov added. Kirk grinned broadly.

"You have four bottles there?" Kirk asked. Chekov nodded. "Let's do it." Charlie and Uhura shared a look as Kirk began to pour more shots.

"We can eat cake and drink, right?" Scotty asked. Chekov nodded and Scotty greedily and happily pulled a plate to him with a large piece of cake on it. Spock did the rest of the honors of splitting up the rest of the cake – all in the eight pieces Scotty had cut. Kirk put the bottle of vodka back down on the table and stood.

"To our lovely Lieutenant Uhura, who came to me the other day to discuss taking over planning Charlie's surprise birthday party and insisted that it be a very casual affair with only a select few welcome. I concurred as that was what I had been planning all along and let her plan the rest," Kirk said. There were some chuckles around the table at the toast. "Uhura, if you ever leave Starfleet we know that you will have another calling in casual birthday party planning. Here's to a good and long career with Starfleet!" Everyone laughed at that before taking their shots. All except Uhura, of course.

Spock picked up the vodka bottle to the surprise of most around the table. He began to pour out the shots as everyone watched him. He lifted his glass and stood.

"I thought it would be most logical if I delivered the toast on love," Spock began. "As a Vulcan I am used to suppressing emotions, but as a human I know that love is the one emotion that shouldn't be suppressed. As the purest of all emotions, love is something that we cannot live without. Of course, there are different types of love: the love of friends, the love of a lover, and the love of family. We have all experienced or will experience each of these three types of love. We are able to do so and are lucky to do so because we are human. We are in the presence of the love of family and of friends because of every single person sitting around this table. Not only are we friends as represented by this party but we are a family as well. We are a rudimentary family but a family nonetheless that loves each other. I sincerely hope and believe that each one of us will find and cherish all three types of love."

The crew looked at Spock in a silent moment. Uhura had tears in her eyes and Charlie was smiling softly.

"That was absolutely beautiful, mate," Scotty said, wiping at his eyes. There were nods of agreement around the table. Then the shot glasses were drained and placed back on the table.

***

Kirk reveled in the panting that he heard coming from the body that he was currently kissing his way down. His hands rested on the hips that he unconsciously knew could bear with childbirth. He had learned about that instinct that a man unconsciously sought out a woman with a certain hip to waist ratio. Charlie had the right hip to waist ratio. Once he reached a belly button, Kirk stopped and rested his chin on the pale stomach the belly button belonged to. He looked up and saw a pair of impossibly deep blue eyes shining down at him in the darkness of his captain's quarters. He smirked and kissed his way back up her stomach, past a red lacy bra, and paid extra attention to her sternum before landing at her neck.

"If you leave a mark on me, I will kill you," he heard and felt his young companion say. He moved up on the bed and looked into the face of his young assistant engineer. He nudged her nose with his before placing a deep kiss on her lips. She put her hands on the back of his neck in an effort to pull him closer, then speared her fingers through his hair, lightly massaging and scratching his scalp. Kirk didn't quite care when he let out a groan that he was powerless to stop.

He felt a leg hitch over his hips and pull him closer to the bed and to Charlie. She pulled back from the kiss but began a slow, agonizing trail of hot open-mouthed kisses along Kirk's jaw toward his ear. He shuddered when she ran the very tip of her tongue lightly along the curve of his ear. He groaned when she took the lobe of his ear in her mouth and sucked on it before taking it between her teeth and biting it lightly.

"You're going to be the death of me, Charlie," Kirk said as he breathed heavily. Charlie just smirked up at him.

Kirk moved off of her and smirked himself when he saw the look of loss coming from his bedmate. He flipped the covers off of her and enjoyed the view of her pale body clad only in red lacy underwear and a red lacy bra on top of his dark sheets. The color of his sheets only showcased how pale her skin was. He couldn't believe how sensory this experience was. He chalked it up to how much he wanted to pay attention to this moment. He wasn't going to forget one detail for the life of him.

Kirk lightly kissed his way up Charlie's left leg, enjoying her squirming body as he slowly made his way closer to the top of the inside of her thigh. He heard her let out a very deep breath when he moved back down to pay the same attention to her right leg. He lightly skimmed his hands up her legs and rested them at her hips as he stared at the red lacy barrier in front of him. He glanced up at her only to see her looking down at him with heavily hooded eyes. She barely inclined her head in a nod when he slipped his fingers underneath the sides of her panties and began to slide them down her legs. He dropped them on the floor and stared into her eyes as he moved back up onto the bed, taking her legs gently with him and allowing them to accommodate him between them. He brought himself back up the bed to look at her face. He brushed back a bit of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He kissed her forehead with a hand on her neck. He kissed her nose. And then he kissed her sweetly before slipping back down her body, his mouth leaving a trail in his wake.

When Charlie felt Kirk kiss her, she arched her back into the touch. Her hands clenched at the sheets on his bed and she took in a gasp of air. She soon discovered that his tongue, while good for talking and bragging about his heroics as captain at the Enterprise, was also good for something else… very good for something else.

"Oh, God," she panted. "Oh, Jim." She felt him smirk but gasped before she could reprimand him for having the gall to do that when he should have been occupied with other things. He was back to keeping himself occupied with those certain things before she could get the words out of her mouth. Although, she didn't think she would be able to make any coherent sentences for a while.

A few minutes later, Charlie groaned into a deep kiss with Kirk as she felt him slowly enter her. Both pulled back from the kiss to put their foreheads together and fully enjoy his entrance into her. They kissed deeply again as Kirk began to slowly rock his hips against hers. She began to move her hips in time with his and they both found they had to break from the deep kissing in order to catch their breath. Kirk allowed his hand to trail down her body until it reached a spot on Charlie's body that made her arch wonderfully into him and clench her muscles deliciously around him. He groaned and wondered exactly who his hand was helping more. Their bodies moved faster together and they were just about to reach a climax.

That was when Kirk sat up in bed. Alone. Desperately alone. He looked around him and saw the empty space in the bed next to him. His chest was bare but his pajama pants remained on his body. There was no sign of the assistant engineer nor was there a sign that she had been there. He desperately looked at the floor at the end of the bed, hoping to see a pair of red lace panties. Sadly, he was disappointed. He sat back on his bed and ran a hand through his hair, going over in his mind the events of the dream that had appeared so vividly to him. He was slightly surprised at the guest in his dream. He hadn't expected for Charlie to pop up in one of those kinds of dreams that he found himself having. He thought he was beginning to see her as more of a younger sister than something very un-sister like.

"God dammit," he muttered as he ran a hand through his hair again. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was near half six in the morning. He groaned and headed toward the bathroom, preparing for a very long and very cold shower.

After Kirk finished his shower, he visited the mess hall to grab a large mug of coffee and his data pad. He was on his way back to his room when he turned the corner of the corridor and saw Chekov coming out of Charlie's room. Chekov was being very quiet about it and was still in his pajamas. Kirk stopped and waited for the young Russian ensign to notice him. Chekov lifted his gaze and jumped slightly.

"Captain," he managed to stammer out as he shifted on his feet. Kirk could feel his blood boiling as he stared at the young man in front of him.

"She is your superior officer, Ensign," Kirk barely got out through clenched teeth.

"I know that, sir," Chekov answered. "Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened?" Kirk asked. He couldn't believe the audacity that his young ensign navigator had. Kirk knew very well what could have happened between them as flashes of his dream came back to him.

"Nothing happened, Captain," Chekov repeated. "I promise you that. Nothing happened."

"Why were you in there then?" Kirk asked as he saw Chekov shift on his feet again.

"She had a nightmare last night, Captain," Chekov explained. "I heard her yell and went in to make sure she was okay. She asked me to stay in case she had the nightmare again."

"A nightmare?" Kirk asked, suddenly filled with worry about what could be plaguing the assistant engineer's mind. "Did she say what it was about?"

"She did, sir," Chekov told him. Kirk opened his mouth to ask another question but Chekov beat him to it. "And I promised to keep it to myself." Kirk nodded.

"Go get ready for the day," he told Chekov. "I'll see you on the bridge in two hours." Kirk delighted slightly in watching Chekov rush into his room before he continued on his way to his room.

Kirk was surprised to find that day being repeated in his mind later that week as he heard the alarms going off around him and all around the Enterprise. He again repeated the memories as he ran down to Sickbay, helping Sulu carry Chekov to the chief medical officer. As they entered Sickbay, McCoy took one look at the three officers, two carrying the bleeding and broken body of the third as they entered the ward. McCoy pointed to a bed at the end of the ward that was far away from the injuries that were already coming into the ward.

Kirk helped Sulu carry Chekov down the ward and gently placed the teenage officer on the bed. McCoy was over quickly and took over the job of getting Chekov back to normal after shouting instructions at the other medical officers. Kirk stepped back and watched McCoy work on the young man. Sulu stood on the other side of the bed, neither willing to leave Chekov's side. As McCoy moved past him, Kirk put out a hand to stop him. He grabbed McCoy by the shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"You bring him back," Kirk said firmly. "Bring him back and make sure he stays alive, Bones. Do it for her. For Charlie." McCoy nodded.

"Go help the others," McCoy said to him. "There's nothing for you to do here. Go be the captain, Jim!"

Kirk and Sulu left the medical ward and ran back up to the bridge.

Down by the engine room, Charlie picked herself up off the floor and grabbed at her arm as a sharp sting of pain went through it. She stood on a stairway landing and looked up at the stairs she had come tumbling down during the impact before the alarms started sounding. She looked all around her at the people running around and screaming orders at each other. She felt deaf as there was so much noise that she couldn't hear anything. She looked down at her hands and saw they were covered in blood. She couldn't find the will to move. She reasoned she must have hit her head when she fell as she watched everyone else working to fix the ship. She looked at her hands once more and the sight of the blood again caused her to look up in alarm.

"No," she said quietly. "No." She didn't remember how she got back up those stairs so quickly, but she did recall seeing most of the other crew members getting out of her way as she ran from the engine floor while clutching her mangled left arm. Most just assumed that she was on her way to hurriedly get her arm fixed so she could get back to work, but they were wrong.

She ran instead of taking the elevator. She leapt up the stairs and bounded down damaged corridors. When she got nearer to Sickbay she was relieved to see that that part of the ship had miraculously escaped any damage. She slowed as she approached the opening of the medical ward. She ignored the protests and orders from the nurses and medical officers as she blindly walked toward the back of the medical bay. She had hoped that she would be wrong when she got to the end of the ward. She hoped that she wouldn't have dreamed something that would have come true. She would have given anything to not be seeing the vision that was clouding her vision.

There on the back bed of the medical ward lay the young Russian navigator, bleeding and dying before her eyes. Working over him was the hard-nosed chief medical officer. Charlie just stood there, as she watched McCoy work on Chekov. She didn't bring her hands to her mouth and even though the tears welled in her eyes, she didn't feel any fall. She was beyond crying at this point, she reasoned.

And when McCoy told her to get her arm checked by a doctor, she didn't protest like she assumed that she would. She held out her arm to a doctor that had come over to her. She didn't feel any pain as the doctor set the broken arm. She didn't even flinch as the doctor wrapped up the arm and gave her a shot of pain medication. She was already numb. She didn't scream any words of protest as she saw the heart monitor flat line. And she didn't wake up from a dream either. She just stood and watched as McCoy continued to fight with Chekov's stubborn heart, unsure if the young Russian would be right about whether or not all Russians won at everything and that they never died. She sincerely hoped that all Russians were lucky. And if not all Russians were lucky, she would settle for just her Russian to be lucky.


	5. Sabatoge: Beastie Boys

Kirk paced back and forth in front of the closed entrance to Sickbay. He was waiting to get an injury report from Bones. Hopefully there would be no casualties. When the Enterprise had warped to a certain coordinate in the Milky Way galaxy, Kirk hadn't expected to encounter a surprise asteroid belt that had gone previously undetected by Starfleet. Kirk's worries on that issue were subdued due to the fact that Spock was working on any sort of answer to why the asteroid belt had suddenly appeared. Right now, Kirk's largest worry was the safety and health of his crew.

He stopped pacing and looked up when McCoy exited the medical ward, the door closing behind him. McCoy took off his blood-stained gloves and sighed heavily. Kirk looked at him in alarm.

"Don't tell me you lost him," Kirk said, knowing McCoy would know who he was referring to. "If you lost him, so help me, I will throw you off this ship right now." McCoy put up a hand to stop Kirk.

"He's alive," McCoy told the captain. Kirk breathed a sigh of relief. "He's unconscious though. He's alive for now, but I don't know what will happen overnight. He's in very critical condition, Jim. We just got him stable." Kirk let out another breath and ran both hands through his hair.

"How's she doing?" he asked. Again, McCoy would know who he was referring to.

"She's got an arm broken in two places, just her left arm though," McCoy said. Kirk gave him a look. "She's refused to leave the ward. She's just lying in the bed next to him and watching him, willing him to wake up and get better. I talked to Scotty and he told me to give her all the time she needs."

"She can't stay in there forever though," Kirk said. "She'll go crazy. Perhaps going back to work will take her mind off things."

"Give her a few days," Bones advised. "I'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist, but I do know that she's hurting a bit. If I have to give doctor's orders for her to stay there a few more days, I'll do it."

Kirk nodded. "Can I go in and see them?"

McCoy nodded and turned back to the door, opening it and entering before the captain. A few beds were occupied with crew members nursing various injuries, but none so severe as the person occupying the last bed in the ward. Kirk followed McCoy to the back of the ward and saw two beds pushed closer together. In one bed was Chekov, hooked up to various monitors and breathing through a ventilator with an intubation tube in his throat. Lying next to him on her side was Charlie. Her left arm was wrapped with bandages and a splint. Kirk looked to McCoy after glancing pointedly at her arm.

"That was all she let them do," McCoy whispered to Kirk. Kirk nodded and went to sit next to Charlie. She turned to look at him and Kirk felt his heart leap the sight of her. All the life seemed to have drained from her eyes.

"Hey," Kirk said quietly. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught McCoy sneaking away to check on other patients.

"Hi," Charlie said, her voice incredibly raspy. "I'm sorry that I'm not down in the engine room with Scotty."

"No," Kirk said. "That's fine. You should be here. How are you doing?" Charlie sat up a bit. Kirk noticed that she switched from holding Chekov's hand with her left hand to her right hand as she moved. She seemed intent on keeping some kind of physical contact with him.

"I'm fine," Charlie said. "Just a broken arm." She even lifted her left arm to show him. Kirk caught her left hand gently in between both of his hands.

"Charlie," Kirk said softly. "How are you?" Charlie glanced down at the bed and their hands before looking back up at him with a well of tears in her eyes.

"I'll be better when he wakes up," Charlie admitted. "Bones says he doesn't know when that's going to be though."

A tear dropped from one of her eyes and began to roll down her cheek. Kirk reached out with a hand and brushed it away with his thumb.

"Hey," he said softly, leaning forward and pressing his forehead to hers. "There's no need to cry. He'll be fine. He'll be sitting up and beating you at chess in no time. And then he'll be wanting to break open more vodka to celebrate his heroic return to the bridge. The two of you will be back in the mess hall laughing and joking in no time."

Charlie smiled a little.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked Kirk. "What do I do when the person that is the closest to a best friend that I've ever had is lying in a medical ward attached to a machine that's helping him breathe?"

"You could start playing a game of chess," Kirk said. "Play for him. Maybe you'll win this time."

Charlie let out a little laugh and Kirk smiled at her.

"It'll be about the only chance I'll have," she replied. "Although he would say that was cheating because he was unconscious at the time."

"He still lets you count those two games," Kirk reminded her. Charlie nodded.

"Yeah, he does," she said. Kirk put a hand on her upper arm.

"Get some sleep," he told her. "You can stay here as long as necessary." Charlie nodded again and turned to lie back down as Kirk got off the bed. Kirk watched as she gently placed her left hand in Chekov's and started to drift to sleep. Kirk turned around and slowly walked out of the medical ward.

About three days later, Charlie was still sleeping when she felt a slight squeeze on her hand. As she was asleep she thought nothing of it and continued sleeping. It wasn't until she felt a bit of pain to go along with that squeeze that she opened her eyes. She looked around her and saw that Chekov's eyes were open and staring back at her.

"Pavel!" she said as she sat up and moved closer to him. "You're awake." He nodded, unable to speak due to the tube in his throat. "I'll go get McCoy."

Charlie jumped off the bed and half-jogged over to McCoy's quarters, conveniently located in the medical ward. Not caring about the pain it would cause her arm, she pounded on the door with both fists. When the door opened, McCoy glared at her with tussled hair and sleepy eyes. However, one look at Charlie's beaming face made him smile.

"Let's go see how he's doing," McCoy said as he followed her back to Chekov's bed. McCoy saw that Chekov was indeed awake and looking mighty uncomfortable as he tried to grab at his throat. Charlie went over to him and grabbed his hands in hers.

"Don't do that," she said. "Bones will help you out." Charlie looked at McCoy and he nodded. McCoy moved around to the head of Chekov's bed.

"Now, Chekov," he started. "This will be a bit uncomfortable, but you should be able to breathe on your own now. I'm going to pull out the ventilation tube and I want you to take a deep breath when I do so." Chekov nodded.

McCoy unhooked the ventilator and slowly pulled the tube out of Chekov's throat. Chekov sputtered a bit once the tube was removed but began to take his first few breaths on his own. He did so and sighed, looking at Charlie who still had a hand in his.

"Hi there," she said. McCoy busied himself with checking Chekov's vitals. "It will probably hurt to talk for a bit and to breathe. You've got a couple of broken ribs. I'm glad you're back." Chekov smiled weakly and nodded. Charlie leaned forward and kissed Chekov on the forehead.

"Quit that," McCoy said. "I need to keep his heart rate stable so don't do anything to raise it, okay?" Charlie looked at Chekov, who shrugged a little and blushed slightly. Charlie just grinned. "Charlie, update him on what's been going on and let me know if anything changes." Charlie nodded and settled into her bed. McCoy walked back to his quarters and returned to bed. Charlie lay on her side, facing Chekov. He looked at her arm.

"It's nothing," Charlie said. "It's just broken. I was thrown down a flight of stairs when we hit the asteroid belt. It only hurts just a little. Spock is still working on why the asteroid belt appeared there in the first place. Everyone's been working on repairing the damage to the ship. Kirk said I could stay here as long as necessary. Scotty's doing fine without me."

"What about the warp speed?" Chekov rasped.

"That's right," Charlie said. "It's near the end of the month. Scotty and I made a few adjustments, but I'm not sure what the best course of action is after all the damage done to the ship. We may have been thrown a bit backwards in our progress, but it's nothing we can't handle."

"You stayed here?" Chekov asked. Charlie nodded.

"For three days," she answered. "I haven't even left to shower."

"That's what that smell is," Chekov said with a smile.

"You're lucky you're in a lot of pain right now," Charlie said, grinning. "Otherwise there would be a smack on the arm for you."

"Well deserved though."

"I'm glad you're back," Charlie said. "I've missed you." Chekov squeezed her hand and smiled.

***

Kirk was surprised when he saw Charlie sitting in the officers' mess hall with Scotty and Sulu, laughing over lunch. He walked over to the table to join them and sat next to Sulu and across from Charlie. He was glad to see that the life that had been drained from Charlie's eyes was back in full force. Her smile never seemed brighter and her eyes were sparkling. Kirk smiled at her when he sat down.

"Well, Captain," Scotty said. "Charlie and I were going over the warp speed increase project and think we may be back to where we were before the accident by the end of next week."

"We just need to tweak a few things," Charlie said. "And luckily not much was damaged in the accident. We should be increasing the speed very soon."

"Sounds good," Kirk said. "When can I expect my Russian navigator back on the bridge?"

"It's been a few days since he woke up and McCoy says he's responding well to tests," Charlie informed Kirk. "I would say relatively soon, but you'd have to check with McCoy to be sure." Kirk nodded.

"That's good," Kirk said. "And he's still in full charge of his mental capabilities."

"Yes," Charlie answered. "He still beats me at chess." Sulu and Scotty laughed.

A couple of hours later, Charlie was lying on her back under the warp core reactors when she heard footsteps coming toward her. She turned her head but couldn't distinguish who was walking by. When the footsteps stopped by her she assumed that it was her boss.

"Hey, Scotty," Charlie said. "I'm almost done adjusting the core reactor. I think we can get back up to our normal warp speed a bit earlier than expected."

"It's not Scotty," Charlie heard in a distinct Russian accent. Charlie crawled out from under the reactor and saw Chekov standing there in his hospital scrubs and a pair of slippers. Charlie grinned at the fuzzy red slippers as she emerged from underneath the reactor.

"What are you doing down here?" Charlie asked. "Did you escape from Sickbay? You better get back before McCoy finds you here with me and yells at me for being an accomplice."

"He knows where I am," Chekov answered. "I just told him I was going for a walk. He told me to have fun talking to you."

"Scotty and I are going to be going over mechanical issues with the ship in the crew room in a couple of minutes," Charlie said. "It's boring, but you can come if you want." Chekov nodded and followed Charlie through the engine floors to find the engineering crew room. When they walked in Scotty was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee and a data pad, reading an online version of a car magazine. Scotty looked up when they entered and grinned.

"Charlie, you've got Chekov stuck to your shoe," Scotty said as she walked to the counter and the coffee machine.

"Ha, ha," Charlie mocked. "He's just getting out of Sickbay for a while." Chekov nodded in agreement.

"Maybe you can help us with the warp speed," Scotty suggested. "We could use a bit of those wunderkind maths skills."

"I'd be glad to help," Chekov said as he sat down at the table. Charlie turned to the table with a warm, steaming mug of coffee and sat down. "No coffee for me?"

"You know that you're not allowed to have any yet," Charlie told Chekov. "The caffeine would raise your heart rate and we don't need a repeat of the other day."

"Aye, Lieutenant," Chekov said, mock saluting Charlie.

"We still don't know why or how we warped into that asteroid belt," Scotty said. "Nothing was wrong with the warp cores or the reactor."

"No," Charlie said. "Nothing was wrong. We should have been just fine. But Spock is working on it. I just don't know if he's any closer to figuring anything out."

"Well, let's hope he gets close soon," Scotty said. "Now, Chekov, take a look at these equations and drafts of the engines and the core reactor." Scotty pushed the data pad to Chekov with the appropriate documents up and ready for Chekov to look at.

The three mathematicians sat together and talked over equations and physics for over an hour before McCoy came looking for Chekov to get him back up to Sickbay and back in bed. His dire need for rest was McCoy's main concern for his patient. Scotty and Charlie headed up to the mess hall after Chekov went back to the medical ward.

"I'm glad he's doing better," Scotty mentioned to Charlie as they gathered food for dinner on their trays in the mess hall. After gathering food and walking to the tables, they sat down with Uhura and Sulu.

"Me too," Charlie said to Scotty. "He seemed really excited to be helping out." Scotty nodded as he lifted a fork full of food into his mouth.

"How are you doing, Uhura?" Charlie asked. The communications officer smiled a bit before answering.

"I'm doing well," she said. "However, now that I'm eating for two, I feel like I can and would gladly eat an entire planet." Charlie looked at Uhura's plate and chuckled a little at the surprising amount of food on it.

"Do you know the sex yet?" Charlie asked. Uhura smiled.

"You were right," she said. "It's a boy." Charlie held her hand out to Scotty.

"Pay up," she said. Uhura laughed.

"You bet on the sex of my baby?" she asked. "Why am I not surprised?"

"He bet," Charlie said. "I just accepted the challenge." Scotty put a handful of bills in Charlie's hand that she immediately deposited into her pocket before turning back to her food.

"That is the last time I bet against you," Scotty said.

"That's not the first time you've said that," Charlie reminded him, causing Uhura and Sulu to laugh at the look on Scotty's face.

Kirk found Charlie sitting on the ledge of the observation window as the Enterprise cruised through the Milky Way galaxy. She was sitting with her knees to her chest and staring out part of the large window. Kirk leaned against the wall to watch her for a bit.

"What's bothering you?" he asked. She turned to look at him and sighed. Kirk walked over to her, sitting in front of her and facing her. He looked out the curved window for a second as she contemplated her answer.

"I had a nightmare a few days before the accident," Charlie answered. Kirk looked at her, remembering that day for entirely different reasons.

"I know," he said. Charlie's head snapped up to look at him.

"You do?" she asked. Kirk nodded.

"I ran into Chekov as he was leaving your room that morning," Kirk said. "He told me that you had had a nightmare but didn't tell me what it was about."

"It was about the accident," Charlie said. "The details were different from what actually happened, but it was very similar."

"What was the same?" Kirk asked.

"My broken arm," Charlie answered. "Chekov being in the medical ward. His heart flat-lined in the dream too."

"Did he die?" Kirk asked. "In the dream, I mean."

"I woke up," Charlie said. "I don't know if he would have or not. I didn't dream about it after that. What do you think that means?"

"The dream?" Kirk asked. Charlie nodded. "I'm not sure. I don't know if it means anything special. But I'm glad that it turned out better in the end."

"Me too," Charlie agreed.

"Me as well," Kirk and Charlie heard. They turned and saw Chekov standing in the entrance to the observation window room. He was still in his hospital scrubs, but had a jacket on over it. He walked over and sat next to Charlie.

"Thanks for not saying anything about the dream before," Charlie told Chekov. "No offense, Captain, but I wasn't really in the mood for someone to know that I had a little nightmare. Chekov only knew because he came to see if I was alright." Kirk nodded and stood.

"I'll give you some time to hang out together," he said. Charlie and Chekov watched him get up and walk away from them. Kirk almost made it to the doorway when he turned back and looked at Chekov put an arm around Charlie while she rested her head on his shoulder. Chekov took Charlie's left arm in his hands and stroked it as he talked to her. Kirk thought he was probably asking if her arm was feeling better. He watched Charlie lift her head off Chekov's shoulder to nod and smile at him.

Kirk watched as Chekov turned Charlie around to face the window. He drew himself closer to her and began to point out constellations and galaxies that they could see from the window. Kirk let out a large sigh and finally turned from the sight of the two young officers and walked away from the observation window.

On his way back to the mess hall, Kirk ran into Uhura. Uhura's brow furrowed at the look on the captain's face. After steering him into the mess hall, Uhura sat him down and put a piece of chocolate cake in front of him.

"What's going on?" she asked. Kirk picked at the cake with his fork before looking back up at the lieutenant.

"Are Charlie and Chekov dating?" Kirk asked Uhura. "I know that you and Charlie chat and hang out. I figured you would know."

"They're not," Uhura answered. "And even if they were, I wouldn't tell you if Charlie didn't want me to."

"And if I ordered you to as the captain?" Kirk asked.

"No," Uhura answered. "She's a friend and I wouldn't do that. She knew I was pregnant and didn't say anything to you about it. I would return the favor. Why are you asking about them?"

"I'm worried about the crew officers becoming involved with each other," Kirk said. "We are going to be out here for a while and I don't want any of my command staff not speaking if something goes wrong."

"Is that why you're really asking?"

"Is it wrong to be jealous of a kid?" Kirk asked. Uhura grinned.

"You're jealous of Chekov?" she asked.

"Actually, I'm jealous of Charlie," Kirk said. "There's nothing I wouldn't give to be with that Russian."

"Seriously, Kirk," Uhura said. "Are you jealous of him?"

"A bit."

"He's a good kid, though," Uhura told him. "You can't be hard on him because he's not doing this intentionally. We don't know how he feels or how she feels. And if I've learned anything in life, I've learned that you can't help feelings. Charlie can't help it if she likes Chekov and not you. It would be the same if she liked you and not Chekov. She can't help it."

"Like you can't help loving Spock."

"Exactly."

"Just know that she doesn't mean any harm. She probably doesn't even realize the situation that she's unwittingly in," Uhura explained. "She probably has no idea how you or Chekov feels. I don't even know how she feels about either of you. She could be in love with the head of security for all we know."

"Cupcake?" Kirk asked. Uhura laughed. "I seriously doubt that. I guess I can do a bit more to lay up on Chekov. It's not his fault and it's not hers either."

"And it's not yours," Uhura reminded him. "Just let things run their course. Besides I thought you went for the green girls."

Kirk grinned.

"I am rather partial to green."

"That's what we'll do then," Uhura planned. "We'll go find you a nice green girl." Kirk laughed.

"Sounds like a plan."

***

"Are you sure you are allowed to drink now?" Charlie heard Sulu ask as he looked up from the table they were sharing in the mess hall. Charlie turned to look at the door and saw Chekov walking toward them with his chessboard in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other. Charlie was slightly startled by his appearance as he was dressed in civilian clothes rather than the standard officer's uniform or the hospital scrubs he had been wearing as of late. He sat down next to Charlie and put the board and bottle on the table.

"I talked to McCoy and he said that I should be fine," Chekov said. "I even asked if I was allowed to drink and he told me that I would be better not to but it wouldn't do much harm." Sulu laughed.

"You two have fun," Sulu said.

"You're going to leave?" Charlie asked. "Stick around."

"Yeah. Make sure Charlie doesn't cheat," Chekov said. Sulu sighed and relented.

"Sure," he said. "Switch seats with me, Chekov." Chekov nodded and he and Sulu switched seats.

While Sulu watched Charlie and Chekov play chess in the mess hall, Spock was occupying a nearly empty bridge. He listened to transmissions over and over from the day of the accident. He checked something on his data pad before listening to the transmission once more. He turned to Kirk, who was sitting in the captain's chair, staring at nothing.

"Captain," Spock said, standing up and walking toward Kirk.

"What?" Kirk asked absently.

"The accident was no accident," Spock said. "I've translated the transmission that was heard seconds before we impacted with the asteroid belt."

"And?" Kirk asked.

"It's in Klingon," Spock answered.

"What did the transmission say?" Kirk asked.

"They are trying to rid the ship from existence," Spock said.

"Any particular reason why?" Kirk asked. Spock shook his head.

"I've been unable to detect any reason in the transmission. All that was heard was the confirmation of our ship's location followed by the order to destroy it."

"And now that they failed?" Kirk asked.

"I don't know," Spock said. "Should we go back to the Academy? With the damage sustained from the accident, we are still not able to survive a fight with a Klingon war ship."

"We could do," Kirk said. "I need to talk to a navigator and an engineer."

"Try the mess hall," Spock said. Kirk nodded.

Down in the mess hall, Sulu was laughing at Charlie's latest defeat in chess as she took a swig from the vodka bottle. The trio looked up to see Kirk and Spock coming into the mess hall.

"Captain," Chekov greeted. "Have you come to watch me defeat Charlie in an epic chess battle?"

"No," Kirk answered. "I have a couple of questions for the both of you. It's about work." Charlie screwed the top of the vodka bottle back onto the bottle and turned to face Spock and Kirk as they pulled up chairs to the table.

"What can we do for you?" she asked.

"Spock just translated a transmission in Klingon about orders to attack the ship," Kirk explained. "That was what happened in the accident. It wasn't really an accident. I want to know if we can survive a fight with them."

"Now?" Charlie asked. "If we were to get into a fight with them now it would be detrimental to the ship and the crew. We can't survive anything soon."

"When could we?" Kirk asked.

"It depends," Charlie said. "There's still a lot of work to be done and we weren't aware of an impending attack on the ship before. We were taking our time getting things back together. We were going without parts that we thought we could get at a later date. We're going to need to get to a space station or go back to Starfleet if you want to give us ample time to prepare the ship for a fight."

"When could we?" Kirk repeated.

"If we don't get to a station or go back to Starfleet, we wouldn't be ready by the time the Klingons want to attack again," Charlie said. "If we get back to Starfleet, we only have to wait a couple of weeks, three at the most, to get back in the air."

"How quickly can we get back to Starfleet?" Kirk asked Chekov.

"After we contact Starfleet it would take three minutes to warp back there and then about another two hours to get back through the atmosphere and back to the command post," Chekov answered.

"What is the possibility of the Klingons knowing?" Kirk asked. Looks were exchanged around the table.

"Probably very likely," Charlie asked. "We could throw them off if we set up a trap. It would be quite dangerous and potentially deadly."

"How do we do that?" Kirk asked. "What does it entail?"

"We would need help from a renegade crew and some help from someone on the ground," Charlie answered. "I know just who to call."

Kirk looked at Spock and then back at Charlie. He nodded and watched as Charlie pulled out her communicator. She dialed coordinates and waited for the person to pick up the call.

"Mom," she said. "It's Charlotte. Is Dad there?"

Those around the table looked at Charlie after she said those words. She kept her eyes on the table.


	6. Don't Look Back In Anger: Oasis

"Hey Dad, it's Charlie," Charlie said over the communicator in the officers' mess hall of the Enterprise. "I need your help."

Kirk exchanged a look with Chekov. Although the two didn't normally react to each other in regards to Charlie, both knew at that moment that they were witnessing something that neither had seen before. Charlie rarely talked about her family and when she did it was in the utmost confidence that details were not to be repeated. When Kirk saw that Chekov's eyebrows were raised in surprise at the person that Charlie had contacted on her communicator, he knew that the Russian didn't know that she was going to call her father. Kirk also didn't know why she would call upon her father to help the Enterprise put the Klingons in a trap – if they were to follow at all.

Chekov watched as Charlie listened to her father for a small moment before speaking again. He noticed that she didn't look up as she spoke to her father.

"I know," Charlie was saying into the communicator. "I realize that, Dad, but I really need your help right now. If you could do this, I would be eternally grateful. You wouldn't just be helping me. You'd be helping the entire crew of the Enterprise. Yes, from Starfleet. I know, Dad. No, you'll be fine. Trust me. All they want is our help. Okay. When? Good. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Charlie turned off the communicator and finally looked up from the table to see everyone staring at her.

"They're in," she said. "We need to sort out the plan and then get back to them. They're going to need to be in constant contact with us once we start heading back."

"We can do that," Kirk said. "This is your family you're willing to risk to help us out."

"I know," Charlie said. "And if they weren't the best at what they do, I wouldn't have bothered getting them involved. Trust me; I would never put my family at risk if I wasn't completely confident in them."

"Let's get to planning then," Kirk said, standing up. "We'll go to the bridge and plan there. Chekov, bring the vodka. We're going to need some inspiration for this crazy scheme." Chekov nodded and grabbed the bottle.

"I'll put this in your room," Sulu said, referring to and packing up the chessboard.

"Good," Kirk said. "Then meet us on the bridge. Spock, get Uhura, Scotty, and Bones up to the bridge. Charlie and Chekov, you're coming with me now."

The crew went their separate ways. Charlie and Chekov followed Kirk side by side as they walked up to the bridge from the mess hall. Once Kirk exited the elevator he walked over to the computer board behind the captain's chair that Chekov spent frequent time at. He grabbed a pen from beside it and started pulling up documents that described the ship's inner workings and dimensions. Charlie and Chekov stood on either side of the captain and studied the numbers and drawings that were coming up on the screen.

"If we can get to warp speed four point three by the time we need to warp out of here, we could have a slight advantage on them," Charlie said. "But I have no idea what kind of warp their ship is working on."

"Could you do it soon?" Kirk asked. "I'm talking a matter of minutes or hours as opposed to days."

"We're very close," Charlie said. "We would have a very strong warp speed of four point three in about two hours, but it's that last push to the next speed that is the hardest. If we can get both Scotty and I working on the warp speed then we can do it. That means that no one can beam on or off the ship in the course of this. We can't have anyone coming on board or going off."

"Scotty did a very impressive beam while this ship was going at warp," Kirk said. Charlie nodded.

"I know," she said. "He told me about it, but if you're changing speeds while warping, then you can't do any beaming. The math would be off." Chekov nodded.

"She's right," he said. "We can't do that."

"Wait," Charlie said. "We can't do that, but someone else can." Charlie pulled out her communication pad and dialed another set of coordinates. She set the pad down as it dialed and programmed it to be projected on the bridge screen. The face of a young man about Kirk's age popped up onto the screen. Charlie walked around to face him.

"Charlie?" the young man asked. "What's going on?"

"I need your help, Josh," Charlie answered. "We've got some trouble here on the Enterprise. We were involved in an accident that was set up by a Klingon warship and will most likely be attacked again. I need to know how you're doing on that transportation pad."

"You know," Josh said, pointing a finger at the screen. "Mom told me about your call to Dad. I know you're all high and mighty in the Starfleet system and what not, but come on, Charlie. Come home and do freelance work."

"You're being heard by a lot of people that work on this ship right now," Charlie mentioned to her older brother as the lift opened and the rest of the crew stepped onto the bridge.

"I'm not really concerned," Josh said. "Andy's a dad again." Charlie's glare at her brother softened.

"Really?" she asked. "Look, Josh, we can catch up later. We desperately need your help. How is the transportation pad?"

"It's working well," Josh said, adjusting his voice to a more professional tone. "We've got everything working pretty well and have been able to update the beaming distance. We've been able to get a few planets away."

"How do you feel about beaming people on and off a ship that is in the middle of warp speed?" Josh laughed at the question from his younger sister.

"Can't be done," he said. Charlie smirked.

"Has been done," she said. Josh's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" he asked. "That is awesome. Who did it?"

"One of these high and mighty Starfleet employees," Charlie answered. "You remember Scotty."

"Yeah," Josh said. "Fantastic. I think we could be able to make this work. You're going to have to keep me posted, kid."

"Of course," Charlie said. "Get in touch with Mom and Dad to work something out with them. I'll call you back when we've got more information and a solid plan."

"Okay," Josh said. "Talk to you later." Josh hung up the transmission and his face disappeared from the screen. Charlie turned back and picked up her communicator on the way back to Kirk and Chekov.

"Can we do it?" Kirk asked.

"I hope so," Charlie answered and Kirk left her and Chekov to go over drawings on the computer board. Scotty walked over and stood with them, joining in the discussion that Sulu also joined.

Kirk walked over to Spock, Uhura, and McCoy.

"We need to ready Sickbay for any and all injuries that may or may not happen," Kirk said. "We just need to be ready. Uhura, I need you listening for any and all communications and transmissions in Klingon or Vulcan. Spock, you help her and keep an eye out for anything else that you can help with." Spock and Uhura nodded and went off to work as McCoy stayed with Kirk. "Seriously Bones, you might want to work on this right about now."

"We're about halfway prepped already," Bones said. "I've got the ensigns, nurses, and cadets working on it." Kirk nodded and took a deep breath.

***

Spock entered his quarters to find Uhura waiting for him. She was sitting on his bed and he closed the door before walking over to her. He sat down next to her, put a hand on her stomach, and kissed her.

"Hi," Uhura said after Spock pulled away.

"Hello," he replied. He guided Uhura so she was lying on the bed on her back and he was on his side, facing her, his hand still resting on her stomach. Their faces were turned toward each other with their noses barely touching.

"Are you scared?" Uhura asked.

"Of?" Spock tried to clarify.

"This trap that we're throwing the Klingon ship into," Uhura said. "Are we sure that it'll work?"

"The captain seems confident," Spock said. "And if everything goes well on the ground, then we should all be fine."

"I know that," Uhura said. "I'm just worried about Chekov and Charlie. They're sacrificing a lot in this plan."

"I know," Spock replied. "Kirk knows that as well. But he seems to trust their judgment and their plan. He wouldn't be authorizing it if he didn't."

"I guess that's true."

"You're just worried about them, love," Spock said, smiling slightly. "It must be those motherly instincts that are coming through." Uhura smiled broadly.

"I'm worried about how this can affect the baby should anything go wrong," Uhura voiced her concerns.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Spock said. "As the baby is part Vulcan, he has some slight advantages over other human babies."

"That is a bit more comforting," Uhura admitted. She shut her eyes briefly and rubbed her nose against his. She turned on her side and ran a finger along Spock's ear, causing him to shut his eyes.

"We can still have intercourse while you are pregnant, yes?" Spock asked. Uhura nodded. "Good." And with that, Spock rolled Uhura onto her back and quickly followed, hovering over her as he kissed her.

***

If one wanted to find a Russian navigator and an assistant engineer all they would have to do would be to look in the command officers' mess hall on the Enterprise. Chekov and Charlie were sitting at their usual table staring at a chessboard. However, this game didn't hold the normal fun or calm atmosphere that their games usually had. This game was filled with a heavy air. There were more deep sighs than deep laughs. And there were more frowns than smiles.

"You're worried," Chekov said to Charlie after he finally decided where to move his knight.

"Aren't you?" Charlie asked, picking up her bishop, one of the few pieces of hers that remained on the board.

"Of course," Chekov said. "I rarely see you worried and it frightens me a bit, especially when most of the plan was your idea."

"It was mostly my idea," Charlie agreed. "But you and I have the biggest and most dangerous parts in it."

"Don't worry," Chekov said. "I'll get you back to us."

"I have no doubt in you," Charlie said. "I'm more worried about me. I'm worried that if I become too stubborn, I won't follow the plan."

"You need to," Chekov said. "I will get you out of here either way. I'll look after you."

Charlie smiled at him and Chekov could see a hint of tears in her eyes. Chekov threw caution to the wind and leaned across the chessboard, cupping a hand at the back of Charlie's neck and letting his lips meet hers in a brief and sweet kiss. He rested his forehead against hers as they kept their eyes closed.

"Thank you," Charlie said. "I appreciate it." Chekov smiled briefly before kissing her again just as sweetly and sitting back.

"You're welcome," Chekov responded. "I know you would do the same for me." Charlie nodded. "Alright now, it's your turn. Hurry up." Charlie shared a smile with him and then turned back to the board.

Charlie noticed throughout the game that the sighs gradually turned to laughter and the frowns morphed into smiles. Hands and fingers were hit lightly in protest of a move. Jokes, banter, and mild insults were passed over the chessboard. But when Charlie's communicator started chiming, both stopped in their laughter. Both turned to look at the communicator beside Charlie. And both sighed. Charlie turned off the alarm and Chekov started packing up the chess game. They stood and Chekov pulled Charlie into a hug.

"I'll see you later," Chekov said.

"You better make sure of that," Charlie responded. Chekov nodded and smiled. He picked up the chessboard and they walked out of the mess hall.

An hour later, Charlie was running around the engine room as alarms sounded all around her. She and Scotty were having trouble communicating over all the noise and commotion. Pushing past a few cadets as they were making sure a combustion tube was working properly, Charlie found herself at the warp core reactors.

"Now!" she heard and then began to release the reactors. After she had released two of the reactors, she ran back to the cadets.

"Get out of here now!" she ordered. The male cadets took one look at her and left. "Get to a shuttle and get out of here now!" She heard the last of the order echo throughout the ship.

Then she heard Kirk contact her through her communicator.

"Charlie!" he exclaimed. "You need to get to a shuttle too!"

"I know!" she yelled over the noise as she continued to run around the engine. "We're almost there!"

"Charlie! Now!"

"Fuck," Charlie muttered as she ran around the engine, covering her head from the steam and the hardware that were beginning to fall all around her.

"Dammit, Charlie! Get out of there!" she heard Kirk order. Charlie knew that she had to be the last one on the ship. Kirk would have gotten off of the ship with the rest of the crew by now. That had taken a lot of convincing to get Kirk off the ship, but Charlie told him that his efforts would be better served to make sure the ship and the rest of the crew would safely make it back onto Earth. Charlie wasn't quite sure how she had managed to convince him to let her be this stupid, but she and Chekov had been able to let him see the light in the crazy plan.

Charlie bounded up the stairs and around a corner, barely scraping her arm on the wall as she turned. As she sprinted down the hallway, she could hear her brother in her ear.

"You have to hurry, kid," Josh said. Charlie picked up her pace as the muscles in her body ached in protest.

"I'm almost there," she responded as she neared the transportation pad. She made it to the desk of the transportation pad and quickly punched in some numbers into the computer. She ran onto the pad and took quick deep breath.

"Energize," she said. She felt the world blur around her.

The entire Enterprise crew was standing in Hangar 7 waiting. The command staff was standing together and watching a very large empty space in the middle of the hangar.

"Come on," Kirk said. "Where is she?"

Chekov bounced on his heals as he waited, his head looking back and forth at the reactions around him. And then he smiled.

The Enterprise was materializing in front of them. The crew had given the ship enough room to appear in the Hangar, damaged, but in one large piece with no Klingons to be found. Kirk and Chekov bounded onto the ship, followed by McCoy and Scotty.

"Charlie!" Chekov yelled as he sprinted toward the engine floor. After a few minutes of searching the ship, the four men gathered in the engine room.

"She's not here," Scotty said. "We can only hope that Josh managed to get her out."

"And we can't check or send any transmission for how long?" Kirk asked.

"Three days," Scotty confirmed. "The Klingons will be patrolling the skies and we can't allow them any advantage if they are listening for transmissions."

Kirk watched over the next few days the effect that Charlie's absence had on the crew. It wasn't a large change, but a change that made a difference. While jokes and laughter were still had, there was one laugh that was missing from the crowd. Kirk noticed Chekov's smile wasn't as bright and he was often seen playing chess games alone, or sometimes with Sulu, but he played nonetheless. Uhura spent more time with Spock, having lost a female confidante.

"Can we try now?" Kirk asked Spock and Scotty over lunch two days after the Enterprise was beamed into the hangar. Scotty and Spock shook their heads in the negative.

"It's still way too soon," Scotty said. "We can't do anything that will possibly bring harm to either party. We put both the Academy and her family at risk by agreeing to and going through with this plan. I'm sure she's fine, Kirk. We would have heard otherwise by now."

***

Chekov was sitting calmly on the steps of the Academy, leaning back on the steps and watching the stars appear before him. The end of the day called for a calmer presence in the San Francisco based school. Chekov pondered all around him and when his best friend would show up again. He promised to get her back and he wondered if she was at all angry for him failing to do so. He knew that Kirk had been disappointed when she had not turned up on the ship, the most ideal conclusion to the plan. The only hope Chekov held now was that she was safely with her brother, Josh. There had been no distress calls from the family, so he assumed that she was fine and that they were all safe.

He hummed a song that sounded slightly like what he had hummed the night Charlie had had the nightmare about him getting hurt. Or was it a premonition? Chekov wasn't quite sure. He maintained that it was merely coincidence that she had foreseen him ending up in the ward. He watched the horizon and the sky as he lost himself in thought.

He stood as he saw a figure walking to him and getting sharper in focus with each passing minute. The figure was short, had its hands in the pockets of its jacket, and was striding toward the Academy. Chekov smiled to himself and bounded down the steps of the Academy. He skidded across the wet grass and tumbled into the figure, gaining an "Oof!" in response. They fell to the ground laughing. Chekov looked down at the figure he was pinning to the grass and smiled. The figure smiled back up at him.

"I save your ass from Klingons and you tackle me," Charlie said. "That's mildly disappointing."

"I'm just glad you're back," he said. "Three days? Were you getting back at me for being unconscious for three days?"

"Well, it only seemed fair," Charlie responded. Chekov hugged her as best he could and rolled so he was on his back. He was able to get his arms all around her and he held on tightly.

"Do you want to go see the crew?" Chekov asked. Charlie sighed and laid her head on his chest.

"Can we wait a bit?" she asked. She vaguely felt him nod. "But we can get off the grass. Want to go back to the steps?"

Charlie sat up, straddling Chekov and he sat up as best he could. He looked at her for a minute before answering.

"Aye," he said. "Let's go back to the steps." Charlie stood up and held out a hand to Chekov to help him up. He took hold of her hand and pulled himself up to standing. They walked over to the steps and sat down near to where Chekov was sitting before. They sat close enough to lean on each other.

"I'm sorry for not getting you back," Chekov began. Charlie clamped a hand over his mouth.

"No," she said. "No apologizing. I told you before that you weren't allowed to apologize for anything not going according to plan. I'm alive and back here. Okay? No apologizing. Promise?" Chekov nodded as they looked at each other, Charlie's hand still over his mouth. She removed her hand. "Good. How's the ship?"

"Damaged, but nothing irreparable," Chekov said. "We can get started soon if you like."

"Can we put that off for a bit?" Charlie asked. "I need to visit home for a bit." Chekov nodded in understanding.

"How'd he do it?" Chekov asked, knowing Charlie would know he was referring to her brother.

"I don't know," Charlie said. "We were both surprised when I appeared in his lab. He sincerely thought that he wasn't going to be able to get me out of there and that I would be stuck between trying to get to you and to him. He wasn't sure which base would have more pull over me, or if I would go with the ship based on the sheer force used to get the ship to the hangar."

Chekov looked at her and then smiled.

"Do you want to go play some chess?" he asked. Charlie laughed.

"That's all we do," she said. Chekov shrugged.

"I know," he said. "We can go for a drive later." Charlie's eyes brightened at the suggestion. She stood up and watched Chekov as he made to follow her up the steps to the Academy.

"You get the set and the vodka," she told him. "I'll get the food." Chekov jogged slightly to catch up to her and they jogged together through the halls of the Academy, laughing and then splitting up to get things together for the match.

Charlie was very relieved to find an empty mess hall at her disposal after she had separated from Chekov in the halls. She had been relieved to not run into anyone on the way around the Academy as well. She knew that she should have visited the captain, or at least Scotty, when she got back, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to have some time to herself and Chekov for a bit. She gathered some food that they could munch on while playing the game and returned to the seating area of the mess hall. She smiled when she saw that Chekov was setting up the board when she got there.

"Did you run into anyone on your way here?" Charlie asked. Chekov nodded.

"Just Sulu," he said. "He asked if I was going to play by myself again." Charlie's eyes softened at the mention of Chekov's lonely games of chess.

"Hey," she said. "It's okay. I'm back now." Then she narrowed her eyes at him. "You better not have put those on the tally."

"I didn't," he said, laughing. "You know, in honor of your return, we can play strip chess. I still think Sulu's idea was a good one." Charlie laughed.

"Only if you're very lucky," she said. Chekov looked at her intensely.

"I've been lucky before," he said, his voice deepening. Charlie looked up from arranging her pieces with wide eyes. She swallowed a bit before answering.

"We'll see," she said. "You start." Chekov nodded and contemplated his first move.

The game ended up lasting longer than they normally did. Charlie wasn't sure if it was because they had taken longer breaks between moves to eat and talk, or if it was because they secretly wanted to prolong their time together before they absolutely had to head off to bed. She didn't complain however. They talked about how she and her brother had properly caught up in the past three days. Josh had dropped her back off near the Academy after they had spent those three days talking about family and what the future held for both of them. Chekov had told her about the slight changes her absence brought about. There weren't many but they were there, he had told her. Charlie was genuinely surprised at that reaction from the crew. She thought that the three days would fly by without any significant changes, but she knew that she felt the sense of loss without the crew.

She reminded herself of the sense of loss she had felt as she walked down the officers' quarters' hallway to a door familiar to her but one that she had not seen behind. She stopped before the door and read the name of the person it belonged to: Captain James T. Kirk. She contemplated what she should be doing in front of the captain's door at half one in the morning. He had always said that he was available to any member of his crew whenever they needed him. As she stood there, she could start to hear certain noises that she realized she probably shouldn't be hearing. As she heard the moaning and giggling coming from the room, she stared at the door with wide eyes and unconsciously raised a hand to her mouth to cover her surprised open mouth.

She backed up from the door and let her hand drop, her open mouth curving upwards into a smile. She laughed quietly as she walked back down the corridor and found herself by her room. She could wait to tell him she was back. Perhaps he could use a bit of a scare during breakfast in the mess hall – if he would be up in time for breakfast. Or she could start work on the Enterprise with Scotty and they could surprise Kirk in the hangar. Either way, she was not going to interrupt what was going on in his room. She laughed to herself again and entered her room, still plotting how best to announce her return.

Kirk panted as he rolled off the green woman beneath him. He turned to face her and kissed her. He rather enjoyed the way that the green of her skin brought out her blue eyes. Her red hair was also something that he quite enjoyed. And he didn't know it, but for the first time in a while, he wasn't thinking about his assistant engineer. The green woman rolled on her side and Kirk sidled up behind her to wrap an arm around her and drift off to sleep. He didn't dream of pale skin that night, but green. And he wondered in his dream if he was beginning to get over the young woman that assisted Scotty and had risked a lot of lives to get the ship back to Earth.

But as Kirk walked into Hangar 7 the next morning, he knew that he had been mistaken in his thoughts the night before. He stopped upon seeing Scotty and Sulu standing with Charlie in front of the ship. She was in her usual coveralls, zipped to the waist with the arms tied around her. The wife-beater she wore was still black and her shoes were still the black Converse she adored. Her smile was the same and her blue eyes still twinkled with a bit of mischievousness. Her hair was still always in that messy bun she preferred. Her hands were covered in grease and oil as she held onto a rag and a wrench. She and Scotty were going over the drafts of the warp core reactor that Sulu had brought to them.

But it felt like a kick to the gut when Kirk watched Chekov walk up to them and throw a casual arm around Charlie's shoulders as he looked at the plans for the reactor. That was when Kirk realized that she was someone he would have a hard time getting over.


	7. Click Click Boom: Saliva

The music in the bar was very loud as the officers entered the building. Kirk signaled that he was going to look for a table as the rest went to the bar. They were celebrating a safe return to Earth for all of the Enterprise crew. He watched those at the bar wait for their drink orders to be filled. He smirked to himself as he saw Charlie innocently flirting with the bartender and her surprised look when she was given more change than expected. She smiled to herself and led the rest of the officers to find Kirk. He raised a hand as he sat at a large table in the middle of the busy bar. She nodded and smiled upon seeing him.

Kirk pulled out the chair next to him as Charlie neared the table. She sat down next to him and placed a beer in front of him. She winked at him before turning her attention back to the group. He smirked.

"Is this your free beer?" Kirk asked her. Charlie chuckled.

"Saw that, did you?" she asked. "I guess. I mean I'm not sure what was free. Yours or mine. But what's stopped you from taking free stuff before?"

"Nothing," he answered.

"Exactly."

The group chatted and joked with each other as they hung out at the bar. Stories were told of various degrees of embarrassment. One such story was told by Scotty that left Charlie very red in the face and with Kirk smirking at her. So it was safe to say that Kirk was more than a bit annoyed when he caught the same guy hitting on Charlie as she made her way to the bar for the third time.

Kirk had enough drinking experience with Charlie to know that she could hold her Russian vodka well, but if she had even a couple of beers, she would become very easily agitated if someone was annoying her. He wasn't surprised to see her right hand clenched into a fist. He knew that she knew better than to start a fight now that she was an officer with Starfleet, but he also knew that because she couldn't hit the guy, she would let her mouth loose on him.

And that's what Kirk reasoned must have happened as he watched Charlie finish saying what she was saying to the guy. The guy's face took on a murderous look as Charlie looked up to him, daring him to do something. Unfortunately, the guy reacted and backhanded Charlie in the face. The sound of the smack was audible to the crew even above the loud music. The chatter around the bar stopped and everyone fell silent. Most were in shock that what they had just witnessed even happened.

Charlie still had her face turned from the force of the blow. Kirk watched as her eyes changed from dazed to lethal in the span of two seconds. He watched as she clenched her hand into a fist and cocked back her arm. The speed with which she hit the guy coupled with the fact that, while she didn't look it, Charlie was very strong, caused the guy to go careening to the floor, holding onto his nose that was spouting blood.

Charlie stood over him and waited for him to look at her.

"Get up," she said in a dangerously low voice. While Kirk couldn't see the left side of her face, he was pretty sure that the red welt was rapidly turning blue and purple in a bruise. "Get. Up."

She moved from standing over the guy to waiting for him to stand up. The entire bar was watching what was happening. The entirety of the Enterprise crew was standing at the table, unable to decide whether or not to step in. The guy slowly stood, still wiping at his bleeding nose. The second he was standing and facing Charlie again, she threw another punch at him, this time hitting him in the jaw. He didn't go sprawling onto the floor again, but the hit did knock him back. She went to push him away from her as he went back to confront her, but he threw his arm into her left arm, causing her to stop. Kirk remembered that her left arm was still healing and that knock from the guy's arm was enough to cause another break for the already injured arm. The wrap on her arm was concealed in her jacket sleeve.

Kirk found himself automatically walking around the table to go to the bar as he saw one of the guy's friends coming toward the fight. Luckily, Kirk and the friend had the same idea. Kirk stepped in between Charlie and her opponent and faced her. He took her into an embrace that didn't hurt her arm but was enough to let her know to stop.

"Come on," he whispered to her. "Let's not get your other arm broken." He walked her backwards away from the bar and out of the building. He could tell that she was still fuming and that she was glaring daggers back into the bar. Once outside, she wrenched herself out of Kirk's grasp and kept walking for a bit in the parking lot as Kirk stopped and watched her. Once calmed down, she turned back to him, clutching her arm to her chest.

"Can we go?" Charlie asked. Kirk nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll go get everyone else."

"No," she said. "Can you and I go? Everyone else should stay." Kirk looked at her and nodded again.

"Sure," he said. "You want me to get Chekov?" Charlie shook her head in the negative. "I'll go let them know that we're leaving. Stay here and don't hit anyone else." She nodded and watched him disappear into the bar for a minute.

As she stood outside, Charlie gently took her arm from her chest and applied pressure with her other hand to various spots on her arm. When she hit a spot that made her hiss breath through her teeth she stopped. She barely felt Kirk grab her left hand gently after he'd returned from inside. He checked out her arm without taking her jacket off.

"It feels broken again," Kirk said. Charlie nodded, gritting her teeth in pain. "I told Bones I'd take care of you when we got back."

"Thanks," she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her car keys. She handed them over to Kirk without a word and they walked to her car.

Once back at the Academy, Charlie followed Kirk to the medical ward and into an examination room. Charlie cocked her head as she watched Kirk go about the proper procedure for a broken arm. He helped her ease off her jacket so as not to hurt her arm and to preserve her favorite jacket. Kirk gently unwrapped the bandages and damaged splint that covered her arm. He had her lie down on her back as he set her arm. After she wiped the tears that had escaped her eyes from the setting of the arm, Kirk let her relax for a bit after he fastened a splint to her arm. After she was ready, he slowly helped her sit up again and then began to wrap her arm.

"Thank you," Kirk heard Charlie say. He looked up from her arm to see her watching him.

"You're welcome," he replied. He finished wrapping her arm and went to turn away from Charlie. She reached out her good arm and pulled on his sleeve to get him to face her again. He turned back around and found himself very close to her. He noticed that her mouth was open as if she were about to say something.

"Are you and Chekov dating?" he asked before she could get any words out of her mouth.

"He's just a friend," she responded. Kirk nodded with a slight smile at that important bit of information. He slowly inched his lips closer to hers. He rubbed his nose against hers just before his lips reached hers, causing both of them to smile. And then before he knew it, his lips were on hers. He delighted in the pleasure of hearing a moan escape her. He put a hand on her neck just below her ear as they both went to deepen the kiss. After a few moments, they pulled back, both breathing heavily.

"Should we go to my room?" Kirk asked, still having trouble finding his breath.

"As much as I would like to," Charlie began. "I don't think it's a good idea with my arm and all." Kirk let out a deep sigh.

"That's right," he said. "How long do we have to wait?"

"About six weeks," Charlie answered.

"Shit."

"I know."

"And we're keeping this from the crew?" Kirk asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said, nodding. "That would probably be best for now." Kirk nodded, agreeing.

"Can I walk you to your room?" Kirk asked. Charlie smiled at him.

"I would love that," she said. Kirk helped her off the exam table and out the door. As they walked down the corridors, miraculously avoiding other officers and students, Kirk enjoyed the simple gesture of holding Charlie's hand. He hadn't let go of it since he helped her off the table.

Kirk sighed as they stopped in front of Charlie's room. She waved her hand over the sensor to open the door. She turned back to Kirk.

"Thanks again for fixing my arm," she told him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her.

"Thanks for kicking that guy's ass," he told her. She laughed a little before Kirk kissed her again. He would pull away and then dip back down for another kiss. He did this several times before giving her one long kiss and finally pulling away.

"Good night," he said.

"Good night," she repeated before kissing him again and then swiftly turning into her room, leaving him waiting and standing there dazed.

It would probably be the first time that one could say that Kirk practically skipped down the hallway to his room.

And despite the injuries suffered that night, Charlie wore a slight smile the entire time she got ready for bed.

Over the next couple of days, the crew noticed nothing different in the way Kirk and Charlie interacted with one another. Kirk still dropped by the hangar to see how the repairs were going with the Enterprise. He would talk with Scotty and Charlie as they went over plans for the ship. They were standing over the plans for the warp core reactor and trying to figure out what needed to be done with it.

Charlie had her data pad out and was making calculations to the plans to see if they worked. She would redraw parts of the reactor with her pen and then would show the adjustments to Scotty. Kirk marveled at watching them work together. They seemed to complete each other's sentences and pushed each other forward with ideas. She and Scotty would discuss relativistic mechanics and theoretical physics as they talked about the core reactor.

"Is there anything we can do to improve it while we're repairing it?" Kirk asked. Scotty and Charlie looked at one another.

"We'd been talking about that while we were planning the trap," Charlie said. "We figured that the ship would sustain some damage and we were kind of hoping it would hit the reactor."

"We want to build new cores and an entirely new reactor," Scotty said enthusiastically. Kirk looked at both of them.

"Can you do that?" he asked. Both scoffed and laughed.

"Yeah," Scotty said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have bothered asking."

"What do you need?" Kirk asked, putting his hands on his hips and showing he was game for the new addition to the ship.

"We need a lab, a bunch of supplies, and a bit more time," Scotty said. Charlie nodded, backing up the chief engineer.

"More time?" Kirk asked. "For what?"

"It's very complicated math," Charlie explained. "And building an entirely new reactor and cores will take a lot of time because of how dangerous it is."

"Dangerous?" Kirk asked. "No. No way. Just fix the reactor and we'll make do with what we have."

"What?" Charlie argued. "Why?" Kirk turned to look at her.

"We just pulled off a very dangerous retreat back to Starfleet that almost got you killed. You have a broken arm and still have a bruise on your face," Kirk said.

"Then keep me away from the bar," Charlie said. "That's where I got those injuries." Scotty began to look back and forth between Kirk and Charlie with a furrowed brow.

"I don't think you're going to be much safer in a lab where something could blow up causing the entire lab to explode and take you along with it," Kirk said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I really don't feel like you're concerned about me," Scotty interjected.

"Look," Charlie said, both she and Kirk ignoring Scotty. "You have two of the best engineers in the world working for you. Any other captain would be thrilled that we would want to work on improving the warp speed of their ship. Get off whatever high horse you've found yourself on and let us work."

Kirk actually stepped back from Charlie a bit and looked at her. Scotty, who had been standing next to Charlie, took a step to the side in an effort to get slightly away from her.

"Seriously, Jim," Charlie said. "We need to do this in order to get the ship up to speed and be the most advanced ship in the fleet. As the flagship, it deserves that. You know that, Jim."

Kirk sighed and threw up his hands in defeat.

"Fine," he said. "But you and I will go over the specifics needed and take this up with Admiral Pike before you start."

"Fine," Charlie answered.

"Scotty, you keep working on the repairs and Charlie and I will go discuss the needs for the lab," Kirk said. "Is that alright?"

"Fine, Captain," Scotty said. "Charlie knows what we need." Charlie nodded and picked up her data pad and pen before she followed Kirk out of the hangar. Kirk heard Scotty say "Good luck" to her as she left.

Kirk entered a small unused classroom in the Academy and waited for Charlie to get into the room before he shut the door. He was careful to lock it and was glad that the classroom had no windows. Charlie put her data pad and pen on the instructor's table and turned to face Kirk.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"I'm your captain," Kirk answered. "I'm looking out for your well-being."

"Bullshit," Charlie argued. "If it were anyone but me and Scotty, you would have been jumping at the chance to see how fast we could get this ship to go."

"Sure," Kirk admitted. "But it is you and Scotty and that's where my worry comes in."

"You know," Charlie said, her arms crossed and a smile forming over her face. "If I knew that I was going to be fighting with Scotty for your affection, I wouldn't have even begun the fight. Who can resist that Scotsman?"

Kirk smiled. Kirk walked slowly towards the assistant engineer. "You know, it was incredibly sexy watching and listening to you and Scotty talk about the reactor. All of that physics talk and hearing the way you get excited talking about ideas for it, it was really enjoyable for me."

"Really?" Charlie asked disbelievingly as she made a face. Kirk stepped in front of her so she was leaning against the instructor's table and put both of his hands on either side of her. He leaned in.

"It was very sexy," he said before he kissed her softly. He pulled back and just looked at her.

"All I have to do now is steal one of the engineering students' books and read it to you whenever we have a fight about something," Charlie said.

"Nah," Kirk said. "You don't have to steal one of their books, just borrow one from the library. Or talk to Pike. I think he might want you to help out with the engineering class anyway while we're here." Charlie laughed.

"Good to know," she responded. Kirk kissed her softly again and then stepped back.

"Alright," he said. "Show me what you need for this lab." Charlie grinned and picked up her data pad and pen before joining Kirk in standing in front of the instructor's table, looking at the large screen in front of them. She pulled up the plans for the reactor on her pad and they saw them magnified on the screen.

***

Charlie and Chekov found themselves in front of a dilemma. Do they continue playing a very exciting chess game where Charlie finally had the upper hand? Or do they join Sulu and Kirk for a rousing game of laser tag in the simulation room? Neither Sulu nor Kirk had personally invited them. They had just heard about the game from Scotty, bustling through the mess hall to go down and join in on the fun.

"We probably shouldn't," Chekov said. "Your arm is still hurt." Charlie looked down and sighed.

"Yeah," she agreed. "You're probably right. Thanks, Scotty, but we'll stay here so I don't get injured. Have fun though."

Scotty nodded and scampered off out of the mess hall, shouting to everyone about the game. Chekov turned from watching Scotty to Charlie.

"Do you feel bad about not being able to play?" he asked. Charlie shrugged.

"I'd rather not get another lecture from McCoy," Charlie said. "I'll just ask for details later. You know they'll be wanting to give full recounts of every embarrassing moment." Chekov laughed.

"Are you going to get a personal recount from Kirk tonight?" Chekov asked with a smirk. Charlie narrowed her eyes at him.

"You know," she said. "When I told you about that it was in the strictest confidence, as you're my best friend and all."

"I know," Chekov said. "No one else knows?"

"I don't think so," Charlie said. "I think Scotty may suspect something and I'm sure Spock just knows. That guy knows everything. But other than that it's just you."

"I'm flattered," Chekov said, putting a hand to his heart.

"Good," Charlie said. She looked at her pieces and made a bold and daring move. She surveyed the board and her eyes went wide. She broke into a grin and looked up at Chekov. "Checkmate."

Chekov couldn't believe his eyes as he looked at the board. Charlie watched his eyes scan back and forth over the board for a few moments before he looked up at her and shrugged.

"You win," he said. Charlie smiled widely and clapped for herself before marking the win on her side of the tally chart. She still had a long way to go on the chart in order to catch up to Chekov.

Charlie was still glowing from her win when she bumped into Kirk on the way to her room. He was on the way to his as well.

"Guess what," Charlie prompted him. Kirk smiled at her. The grin she was wearing was infectious.

"What?" he asked.

"I beat Chekov at chess today," she announced proudly. Kirk grinned at her and kissed her.

"That is fantastic," Kirk said. "Legitimately, right? No cheating?"

"I wouldn't be so proud of it if it wasn't legitimate," Charlie said. Kirk nodded.

"That's true," he said. "Want me to tell you about the laser tag game?"

"How about over breakfast tomorrow?" Charlie suggested. "It'll give us an excuse to sit together."

"I like how you think," Kirk said.

***

Charlie walked down the hall of the officers' quarters at the Starfleet Academy. She stopped before the door labeled "Captain James T. Kirk" and sighed. She raised a fist and knocked twice. Her left hand and arm was still wrapped from having been broken – again. After a while without an answer, Charlie considered knocking again but turned to leave instead. That was when she heard the door open. She turned and saw Kirk was standing in the doorway, shirtless and rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Sorry I woke you," she said. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm on my way home."

"You're leaving early," he said. "Did you really think that we were going to let you go visit your family and not take any of us with you?"

"Yes," Charlie answered after a brief pause. Kirk laughed and shook his head at her.

"You're not getting away that easy," he said. "Especially after they helped us get back here and defeat the Klingon ship. We want to thank them in person."

"Who's we?" she asked.

"Me, Chekov, Scotty, Bones, and Sulu," Kirk said. "Spock and Uhura will join later."

"I'll have to warn them," Charlie said. "I told them I was the only one visiting."

"That's too bad," Kirk said. "Because just before I started to take this nap that you woke me from, I had a lovely conversation with your mom. She's excited to meet all of us and have us stay with them for a bit."

"I hate you," Charlie said without the emotion behind it. Kirk laughed and she shook her head at him as she started to walk away. She turned for a second. "Tell everyone who's going to meet in the garage in an hour."

Kirk smiled and nodded. Charlie shook her head and turned back around, mumbling to herself as she kept walking down the hall. Kirk scratched at his stomach and went back into his room to start packing.

An hour later Charlie found herself leaning back against the car she had won in the bar. The keys dangled from her finger as she crossed her arms over her chest, waiting. She watched as Chekov, Kirk, Sulu, Bones, and Scotty walked into the garage together, each carrying their Federation issued duffel bags.

"We've got to get a move on if we're going to make it before dark," Charlie told them as everyone paired off. "Who's driving? Me, Chekov, and Kirk?"

"That sounds about right," Scotty concurred. Scotty went with Charlie and they got into her car. Sulu and Chekov took the next car with the young Russian looking excited about being able to drive the fast car. Kirk got in the last car with Bones right beside him. Charlie put on a pair of sunglasses as Scotty turned up the music in the car. All three cars pulled out of the garage and onto the streets of the Presidio in San Francisco. They turned through the streets of the Presidio before going through the city to get onto the main highway to the desert, leaving the Academy and Starfleet behind.


	8. Flowers in the Window: Travis

The sun was bright in its movement towards the beginning of the evening as Charlie looked out to the horizon as she leaned against her car. The crew had stopped at a gas station to fill up the cars on their way into the desert. Charlie had her hands in her pockets and didn't move her gaze from the horizon as Chekov walked up to her and leaned against the car next to her.

"Are you glad to see your family?" Chekov asked. Charlie nodded and smiled.

"Yeah," she answered. "Everyone's going to be there as well. I haven't seen them in a while. Not counting Josh, of course. And we finally get to hear all the details about them helping us out during the Klingon trap."

"I've been waiting to hear about that," Chekov said.

"You and me both," Charlie said. "Do you want to give Scotty a chance to drive on this last hour? I could use the time to talk."

"Sure," Chekov said. "Are you okay?" Charlie nodded.

"I just need to talk to someone," she said.

"Why don't you talk to Kirk then?" Chekov asked. Charlie sighed.

"It's about Kirk," she answered. Chekov sighed and nodded. He watched as Scotty and the rest of the crew walked up to them. Chekov turned and threw his keys to Scotty. Scotty caught them one handed and nodded. Kirk shared a look with Charlie that made her realize that he might have heard some of what she and Chekov were discussing.

She walked around the car to the driver's side and got in the car as Chekov got in the passenger's seat. The engine roared to life after she turned the key in the ignition. She turned the wheel and shifted the car into gear as she drove out of the gas station, the other two cars following.

Kirk and Scotty were coming out of the store at the gas station when they saw Chekov and Charlie talking by her car. Scotty stopped Kirk from going over, having known that it was usually best to leave Charlie and Chekov to their own devices.

"Why can't I go over?" Kirk asked.

"It's just best not to," Scotty said. "How long do you think before we're invited to their wedding?"

"What do you mean?" Kirk asked, trying to maintain a sense of composure, but also very curious as to what Scotty was seeing.

"I'm just wondering how long it'll take before they realize that they're going to get married," Scotty said. "I've never seen two people interact the way they do. When he was in the medical ward after the asteroid belt accident – which those were huge asteroids, by the way – she stayed with him for days. She wouldn't do that for anyone else, not even you, Captain. She might say that she will, but after a day she would need to get back to work to get her mind off of it. I don't think she could bear the thought of losing him."

"Interesting," Kirk said, watching the two young officers at the car.

"I've never seen her so comfortable around someone," Scotty mentioned. Kirk thought back to their interactions and when he would see her with Chekov. Scotty was right. Even when it was just him and Charlie, she still carried a hint of tension in her shoulders and the way she held her body. But with Chekov, she was the most relaxed. Perhaps that was why he felt most attracted to her when he would see her with the Russian ensign. When she laughed with Chekov, she would throw her head back and not worry about how loud her laugher was. When she was with him, she seemed to be more in control of her actions and every move was calculated. He knew that both of their stubborn natures would make them bump heads in the future and he wasn't sure if that would make for a lasting relationship.

Chekov let – no, not let – helped Charlie be who she was. Kirk didn't know if he could find himself to be angry with the young ensign. When the ship had warped into the middle of the asteroid belt, he thought that they would have everything under control. But it was seeing Chekov being thrown head first into the wall of the ship and then hitting the floor with a sickening crunch, that Kirk realized his attachment to the young ensign. He thought of Chekov as someone he could mentor and someone who would make an excellent captain in the future. He immediately jumped up from his chair to help Sulu get Chekov down to see the doctor. And he would do it again, no questions asked. Kirk even admired the nineteen year old.

Kirk followed Scotty as he walked up to the cars, probably sensing that the conversation was over. He watched as Chekov threw the keys to the car he was driving to Scotty. Kirk sighed as he exchanged a look with Charlie. She looked like she was caught with something. But Kirk was only musing on the discussing with Scotty about her and Chekov. Perhaps they would need to talk at her parents' house once they found some time to get alone.

In Charlie's car, she and Chekov were discussing her current relationship with the Enterprise captain.

"I feel so… caged," Charlie said. "I feel like I'm constantly watching out for what I'm doing. And should we get into a situation where I need to be able to think freely, I would fail. I can't do that now, not when I'm worried about how it would affect what we're doing. I don't even know if it's a relationship. It hasn't even been long enough to determine what it is. And if I'm feeling like this now, what's going to happen when or if this continues to go on? I can't do that. I can't be tied down by someone. I can't be worried about all the time. I can't be worrying about someone worrying about me all the time. I've taken care of myself for long enough. I mean we get along well enough but after the whole incident where he fought me and Scotty on the new lab for the warp core reactor I just don't know if we could survive that long."

Chekov nodded, allowing Charlie to take a deep breath.

"Maybe you need to learn to let someone else worry about you for a while," Chekov said. "Maybe Kirk is the right person to do that, but then maybe not. He could be overly protective and that could be smothering to you. If you have any doubt, you shouldn't do it."

"Yeah?" Charlie asked. Chekov nodded.

"You know what's best for you better than anyone else, so you have to make the decision," Chekov told her. "Do what you think is best."

"Stop being so damn smart for a nineteen year old," Charlie told him. Chekov chuckled a bit. Charlie took a brief moment to glance at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said. "Is your parents' house really going to be able to fit all of us, plus Spock and Uhura when they show up?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, full of confidence. "It's big enough." Chekov laughed.

About an hour later, Charlie turned onto a familiar unmarked dirt road off of the highway. She checked her rearview mirror to make sure that the others were following her. When she saw that they had, she concentrated on navigating the dirt road in front of her. Chekov saw the house in the distance and the few cars that were parked around it. Chekov stared at the large house in awe and was pleased to see that there was a front porch that wrapped around the entire house. As Charlie neared the house, Chekov could see someone stand up from a chair on the porch and watch as she parked the car by the others. Kirk and Scotty parked next to her. Chekov looked at those sitting on the porch and immediately recognized a few of the people there. Chekov was sure he could pick out her mother, brothers and father. Her father was the one who had stood up as they approached. Charlie turned to Chekov and sighed before she opened the door to her car and stepped out. Chekov followed suit and was delighted in seeing Charlie's mom rushing down the porch stairs to greet her daughter. Charlie and her mom walked into a wonderful hug.

"Leave your stuff in the car for now," Chekov could hear Charlie's mom saying. "We'll get it after dinner. You must be starving." Charlie smiled as she pulled back from her mother.

"I don't think we'd be able to say no to your cooking, Mom," she said. Charlie's mother smiled and then turned to greet the others that had gotten out of their cars and came to stand around Charlie. Her mother went right for Scotty, having recognized him. Scotty grinned broadly when Charlie's mother engulfed him in a hug.

"Montgomery," she said. "How are you? Are you eating enough sandwiches on the ship? I can make you one if you want." Charlie chuckled in the background. She smiled when she felt an arm go around her shoulders and looked up to see her dad there. Her dad smiled down at her and turned her to guide her to the porch. She walked up the steps with every crew member but Scotty following. If Charlie heard correctly, Scotty was letting her mom know just what kind of sandwich he wanted. The crew spread out on the large porch and looked at their surroundings. The large house in the middle of the desert seemed like the perfect place to raise a few kids and Charlie's parents had used it to its full potential. Once the crew spread around, Charlie was able to look around and make introductions.

Charlie introduced the crew to her father, Stephen, her mother, Judy, her brother, Josh, and her other brother, Andy. When Charlie finished the introductions, she turned to her eldest brother, Andy with a confused look on her face.

"Where's Stacey and the kids?" she asked. Andy looked around.

"They must be inside," Andy said. He looked toward the open door of the house and turned in his chair to yell inside. "Jackson, your Auntie Charlie is here!" Charlie looked in the direction of the door and grinned as she heard footsteps pattering toward the porch from inside. She walked toward the doorway and crouched down waiting for the onslaught.

Chekov watched Charlie's eyes brighten and she opened her arms as a three year old boy flung himself into her. She stood, picking up the small boy with her and hugging him tightly.

"Hi, buddy," Charlie said. Jackson kissed Charlie on the cheek and Charlie kissed him on the cheek after.

"Luckiest little guy ever," Scotty said, causing everyone to chuckle. Jackson laughed and then buried his head in Charlie's neck.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked. "Are you getting shy on me now?" Jackson shook his head but kept it buried in her neck.

"Where's Stacey?" Charlie asked Andy.

"Probably in the kitchen with the baby," he replied. "Another boy. Aaron."

"Come along," Judy said. "Let's go on inside." Charlie followed her mother inside the house and breathed in deeply as she carried Jackson with her to the kitchen. Charlie could already hear her mother offer to and then start giving a tour to her fellow crew members. Charlie, not needing nor wanting to join a tour of her house, went in search of her sister-in-law, Stacey. She was rewarded when she stepped into the kitchen with Jackson still in her arms.

"Mama!" Charlie heard Jackson yell in her ear as he turned around in Charlie's arms to look in the kitchen. Charlie smiled at Stacey who was sitting at the kitchen table, feeding Aaron with a bottle. Stacey looked up and smiled upon seeing Charlie with Jackson.

"Charlie, it's good to see you," Stacey said. Charlie smiled.

"Good to see you too, Stace," she responded. "How's Aaron?" The young mother smiled proudly.

"Beautiful," she responded. "He's fantastic. A perfect little brother for Jackson."

Jackson started reaching out to his mother and squirming enough to cause Charlie to switch her grip on him and hold him tighter. Stacey sighed as she looked between her two sons.

"Charlie, do you mind finishing feeding Aaron?" Stacey asked. "I'll take Jackson for a bit."

"Sure," Charlie answered. She put Jackson down on the floor and let Stacey pass Aaron to her. She cradled the baby in her arms and took the bottle in the other hand. As Stacey tended to Jackson, Charlie began to take a wonder through the house. She swayed her upper body as she held and fed the baby. Aaron looked up at her with familiar blue eyes. All of her siblings had the same deep blue eyes.

Aaron eagerly sucked on the bottle as Charlie navigated the ground floor of the house. She walked through the dining room that was pristine and sparkling. She wandered into the formal family room and marveled at the clean shine that permeated through the room. She wandered through the formal family room, across the foyer and into the living room. The more casual room held the heart and soul of the West house. She kept going and then reached a back room that led out to the backyard. The temperature was still relatively warm. She looked down at Aaron and guessed that he was bundled up enough to step out into the backyard. And besides, Stacey would be able to see her from the kitchen anyhow. She left the door open behind her to give another clue to her whereabouts.

Charlie was standing in the grass surrounding the large pool and watching the sunset when she heard the sounds of the crew coming out of the house and into the backyard. Charlie turned and saw that each of them brought out supplies to set up an outside table for dinner. Bones and Scotty took care of laying out two table cloths over two tables that they pushed together. Kirk had napkins and plates with him and were setting them out while Chekov and Sulu followed with silverware and cups, respectively.

Charlie was finishing up feeding Aaron as she walked to the table and the rest of her family came out with dishes of food as the crew found seats at the table. She sat down on the end of a side of the table, next to Chekov and across from her brother Aaron. Judy sat down at the head next to her two children. Charlie set Aaron's bottle down on the table and shifted him onto her left shoulder. Chekov smiled and played with Aaron as he faced him. Charlie rubbed her hand in a circle on Aaron's back as she tried to get him to burp. He let out a mighty burp from such a small baby that it caused Chekov to look at him in surprise. Then Aaron began to laugh. Charlie grinned as Chekov chuckled. Charlie held Aaron against her shoulder as she dug into the fine home-cooked meal.

"Mrs. West," Kirk started before Judy stopped him.

"Please, call me Judy," she corrected.

"I can still call you 'Mum,' right?" Scotty asked from down the table. Judy laughed and nodded.

"Of course, Montgomery," she said. "What were you saying, Jim?" Kirk smiled a bit.

"I was wondering, Judy, if you and your family would like to tell us what happened while you so graciously helped us out," Kirk said. "We've been dying to know how you helped the Enterprise get home safely."

"I believe we can do that," Judy said. Everyone around the table tucked into eating their food as Judy began with the story of the West family and how they helped the Enterprise. "When we received that call from Charlie we knew that you were in serious trouble. While you didn't give all of the details upfront, Stephen and I knew you had to be in a life-threatening situation. You see, Charlie doesn't call home if she can help it. She's always so busy with that garage and working on getting things done for some of her friends. We barely get to see her on holidays let alone get calls from her."

"Mom," Charlie interjected. "The story?"

"Right. Sorry, dear," Judy said before continuing with the story. "After she talked to Stephen, we immediately called Josh as he is very versed in transporters and warp speeds. We also wanted to give him fair warning that his baby sister was most likely going to be calling soon."

"After I talked to Charlie, I started to get my shuttlecrafts ready," Stephen continued, drawing the gazes of the table to the head where he sat. "I had two fighting crafts and one transport craft. They hadn't been used in a while and we were more than eager to get them in the air again."

"You have fighting crafts and transport crafts?" Sulu asked. Stephen nodded.

"Are they registered with the Federation?" Kirk asked. Judy chuckled and smiled.

"No, of course not, dear," she said with a laugh. "Did Charlie not tell you what we do?"

"Seriously, Mom," Charlie said. "Now is really not the time to be discussing the family business." Judy just turned to her daughter and scoffed.

"Didn't you think they would find out by coming here anyway?" she asked.

"I didn't think they would be coming," Charlie muttered to herself as Kirk asked a question.

"What's the family business?" he posed to the heads of the household. Judy nodded at Stephen. Everyone else around the table was quiet, even Jackson and Aaron.

"Now, Jim," Stephen began. "I don't know how much of this you are going to like, being a high officer for the Federation and all. You guys don't take too kindly to us. We're a family of bandits. We're space pirates, if you will." Kirk nodded and saw that Charlie was watching him intently, waiting for a reaction. When the nod was all that was produced from Kirk, Judy continued on with the story.

"We got the signal to begin and we shot out of here to meet the Klingons at the approach to the atmosphere. We had Josh in contact with us the entire time and we took off to distract the Klingons. Charlie knew the weaponry work Stephen had done on the crafts was very extensive and could take out a Klingon ship," Judy said.

"How did she know that?" McCoy asked.

"She took out a Klingon ship with one of them," Judy said proudly as she looked at her daughter. Charlie smiled a small smile back to her mother.

"Judy and I went up in the fighters and easily helped with fighting the Klingons. They weren't expecting you to get any help from below so they were especially surprised when we snuck up on them," Stephen said with a chortle.

"The hardest job was getting the ship to completely disappear to surprise them with the fighters," Josh said. "I've never beamed a ship before especially when having to make sure my sister got off the ship and in one piece. It was not easy to lock onto a Federation ship without being part of the network. And then having to beam you into a place that I'd never seen before. That was exciting. I was very relieved when Charlie beamed into my studio. We had no idea how the ship turned out. We knew that it had disappeared as we got word from Mom and Dad, but other than that we didn't know what had happened to it. We were very anxious, but assumed everything was alright as you hadn't tried to contact us with any problems."

"I stuck around Josh's for a bit," Charlie said. "And we were discussing the Enterprise when he gave me the idea of rebuilding the warp cores and the reactor."

"You told me you came up with that idea on your own," Scotty said. Charlie laughed.

"Come on, man," she said. "Did you really think that?" Everyone else around the table laughed, even Scotty.

Charlie approached her mother in the kitchen and stood next to her. Judy looked over at her daughter from where she was washing the dishes and smiled. She watched Charlie for a moment. Charlie was staring out of the kitchen window at those crowded in the backyard. Aside from the sleeping Aaron, Judy and Charlie were the only two people in the house. Judy watched Charlie smile and followed her gaze to where Sulu, Chekov, Kirk, and Josh were playing with Jackson.

"Your father and I miss you all the time, you know that?" Judy asked her daughter. Charlie turned her face to her mother.

"I know, Mom," she said. "I miss you too."

"I'm surprised," Judy said. "I'm so used to hearing about you running from the police – no matter your luck – and now all I'm hearing about are your days with the Federation."

"Would you rather I was killed or in jail?" Charlie asked laughing a little. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

"With your black market friends," Judy said. "I'm surprised that you're still alive."

"Yeah, well I traded all that in for a cushy Federation job."

"Tell me more about Chekov," Judy said. "All I know is that he's Russian, a navigator, and nineteen." Charlie looked out the window again before she spoke.

"He's fluent in Russian and English, of course. He's one of the youngest officers in the history of Starfleet and knows more about advanced theoretical physics than anyone I've ever met. He also knows a lot about transporter theory and stellar cartography so he's been able to help Scotty and me out a lot in getting this ship up to maximum potential warp speed. He loves to play chess. That's mostly what we do when we're not working. He also loves vodka, but only the kind that his mother sends him from Russia. He can play the piano and composes music. As far as I know, he's an only child and his parents still live in Russia. They live in St. Petersburg. He's very good with numbers," Charlie finished with a laugh recalling a past conversation with Chekov. Judy noticed how much more alive Charlie looked as she talked about the young ensign.

"I like him," Judy said. She turned to look out the window and noticed that Chekov had glanced back at the house, possibly looking for or waiting for Charlie to come back out to the backyard. Judy also noticed how warmly her sons took to the Russian. While Judy also knew about Charlie's recent involvement with the captain of the ship from a discussion on the phone with her daughter, she thought she knew who she would be seeing around the house with Charlie when she came to visit.

"Mom," Charlie said. "Let me finish washing up. You go outside." Judy nodded and handed her daughter the sponge she had been working with. After rinsing off her hands and drying them, Judy stepped back out into the backyard and watched as Kirk tried to look casual as he headed into the house. Judy joined her husband, eldest son, and daughter-in-law at a table with Dr. McCoy and Scotty. She smiled at her husband as Stephen put an arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

Inside the house, Kirk leaned against a counter in the kitchen as he watched Charlie finish up washing the dishes. He sighed as he faced her.

"I think we need to discuss a few things," he said. Charlie nodded as she concentrated on the dish in her hand. "I can't keep worrying about you."

"I can't have you keep worrying about me," Charlie responded. "I'm sorry that sounds like I'm trying to one-up you, but it's true."

"When I think of you as a friend and a colleague, I'm fine when it comes to potentially dangerous missions that we will likely find ourselves on," Kirk said. "But if you are anything more than a friend I can't have you do anything that would just cause a scrape. I don't know why that is and I don't know if I will ever be able to explain it. Besides, you don't belong with me Charlie. Anyone can see that. In fact, everyone has seen that. Well, Scotty, at least." Charlie had stopped washing dishes and turned toward him, leaning against the sink.

"I still want us to be friends and I don't want this to be awkward," Charlie said. "I enjoy working on the Enterprise and I wouldn't want anything to complicate that, especially with you as captain."

Kirk nodded in agreement. "Exactly. But I don't want to see you dating anyone on the ship, unless it's Chekov. In fact, I don't want to see you dating anyone else unless it's Chekov." Charlie turned back to the dishes at that and laughed.

"Yeah," she said sarcastically. "I'll be sure to remember that when that happens." Kirk laughed with her and moved so he stood beside her. Charlie smiled for a bit before turning to him. "It was the skin, wasn't it? Not green enough?" Kirk nodded and laughed a bit.

"Yep, that was it." Both laughed.

Over the next few days the crew settled in around the West house. Kirk had gotten a message from Uhura saying that she and Spock would have loved to have met the West family but found the quiet of the Enterprise officers' quarters too soothing to leave. The crew had all gotten a good chuckle out of that. The days were filled with long, relaxing talks on the porch in the afternoons, playing with Jackson and Aaron, home-cooked food for every meal, and rousing card games in the evenings and into the early morning hours.

As Charlie loaded her duffel bag into the trunk of her car, she smiled. She had thoroughly enjoyed her time spent at home and kicked herself for not doing it more often. Or perhaps, she had found the right people to bring home with her when she did visit. She walked around the cars and back to the porch where everyone was saying their good-byes. She received tight hugs from her father and mother. Both asked her to come back soon and bring any of her friends with her. She hugged Stacey and cooed at Aaron for a little. Both Josh and Andy told her that they really enjoyed "that Russian kid" and that he was welcome at the house any time. Charlie picked Jackson up to say bye to him and hugged him tightly.

"Are you going to be here for my birthday?" Jackson asked. Charlie smiled at him.

"You know it," she said. She hugged him tighter. "Of course I will be." She put him down and followed her friends to their cars. Everyone was waving to each other as the members of the Enterprise crew got into the cars. Charlie sighed as she sat in the driver's side of her car. Chekov sat next to her.

"Good to be home?" Chekov asked. Charlie smiled at him.

"Yeah," she said. "It was good to be home. Let's go. We've got a lot of chess games to catch up on."

Charlie led her fellow crew members away from her childhood home and out onto the dirt road. She looked back briefly in the rearview mirror to see her family still standing on the porch, watching the cars drive off.


End file.
